25/07/2002 - A new fund has been created by the European Commission, called "i2i", to facilitate access to external finances

The European Commission publishes on the 26th of July 2002, a new Call for proposals based on the Preparatory Action «Growth and Audiovisual: i2i Audiovisual». This new action is intended to help film and audiovisual production companies to have access to external funding from banks and other financial institutions, by funding some of the costs of the guarantees demanded by these banks or financial institutions and/or part of the cost of a loan - Discount Contract Loan - for financing the production of their works (margin applied for «cinematographic and audiovisual risk»).
The dead-line is 20 September 2002.
The proposed action comes under the initiative put forward by the Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000 and aims to encourage banks and financial institutions to invest in the content industries (film and audiovisual). Following the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council, the EIB Group launched the Innovation 2000 Initiative, the aim of which is to support investments promoting the information society, research and development, innovation and competitiveness as well as human capital. In order to contribute to the demand for enhancing the conditions for the use of information technologies, the EIB Group decided to support enterprises working in the area of high-speed dissemination, especially in the area of the media, and established the i2i Audiovisual subprogram.
The objectives of the i2i Audiovisual subprogram are to:
- Enhance the competitiveness of the European film and audiovisual industry;
- Promote the creation of European cinematographic, television and educational works;
- Act as a catalyst for support from the financial and banking sector for schemes undertaken by European audiovisual firms;
- Assist the European audiovisual industry to adapt to new technologies and the digitalisation of production, distribution and archives.
In particular, in the context of acting as a catalyst for support for the film and audiovisual industry, the EIB Group makes credit lines (Global Loan and Risk Sharing Global Loan) available to the specialised banking sector for the funding of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in audiovisual creation, audiovisual technology or the performance of subcontracting in this sector. The European Commission, which shares the objectives of the EIB Group, has decided to supplement this Initiative with a new mechanism based on the Preparatory Action «Growth and Audiovisual : i2i Audiovisual».