Innovation agreements
Purpose
Support the development of critical and emerging technologies through the testing and adoption of innovative and technologically advanced solutions, while reducing the Union's strategic dependencies and preserving the integrity of the internal market.
Eligible programs
Industrial research and experimental development projects aimed at creating new products, processes, or services, or significantly improving existing products, processes, or services through the development of critical technologies identified by the STEP regulation, as listed below:
- digital technologies;
- clean and resource-efficient technologies biotechnology.
Research and development projects must:
- be carried out at local units located in less developed regions (Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia, and Sicily);
- provide for eligible expenses for companies not exceeding 60% of the average turnover for the last two financial years of the individual applicant.
Beneficiaries
Companies of any size with at least two approved financial statements at the time of application, engaged in industrial, agro-industrial, craft, or industrial services activities (commercial activities are excluded) and research centers (i.e., companies with independent legal status that carry out basic research, industrial research, or experimental development).
In the case of joint projects, research organizations, agricultural enterprises, and enterprises engaged in ancillary activities may also be co-proponents of a joint project.
Proposers and co-proposers, with the exception of research organizations, must demonstrate adequate capacity to repay the subsidized loan.
Investment amount
Eligible projects must include eligible expenses:
not less than 5 million and not more than 20 million euros in the case of large projects
not less than €1 million and not more than €5 million in the case of ordinary “Collaborative Research” projects;
Project characteristics
In the case of ordinary “Collaborative Research” projects, beneficiaries must carry out the projects collaboratively, referring to one of the following methods:
project carried out jointly by several proponents, which provides for:
i. a maximum of three applicants, including the lead company;
ii. at least one SME among the proposing entities;
iii. each of the proposing entities bears at least 10% of the eligible costs;
iv. the use of network contracts or other forms of contractual collaboration, such as, for example, consortia and partnership agreements.
The network contract or other forms of collaboration agreement must establish a concrete collaboration that is stable and consistent with the structure of the activities, expressly aimed at the implementation of the proposed project, and provide for the division of responsibilities, costs, and expenses to be borne by each participant.
b) project carried out by an SME or a small mid-cap company as a single proponent,
involving the participation of one or more entities external to the company, independent of it, which contribute to the project activities through research services, research and development consulting services, and/or contract research for an amount equal to at least 10% of the total eligible costs
In the case of large projects, applicants may submit projects as a single applicant or joint projects, with up to a maximum of five co-applicants. Such joint projects must be carried out using a network contract or other forms of contractual collaboration, as indicated in point iv above, and must provide for each proponent to bear at least 10% of the total eligible costs, if large, and at least 5% in all other cases.
Expenses and costs relating to the following are eligible for subsidies:
a) employees of the applicant or persons working on a project contract, temporary employment contract, or specific research grant, limited to technicians, researchers, and other auxiliary staff, to the extent that they are employed in the research and development activities covered by the project. Employee expenses are eligible on the basis of standard costs. The costs of personnel with administrative, accounting, and commercial duties are excluded;
b) newly manufactured tools and equipment, to the extent and for the period in which they are used for the research and development project;
c) consulting and other services used for the research and development project, including the acquisition or licensing of research results, patents, and know-how, through a transaction carried out under normal market conditions;
d) general expenses calculated on a flat-rate basis at 25 percent of the direct eligible costs of the project;
e) the materials used to carry out the project.
Expense items with a value of less than €500.00 (five hundred/00) excluding VAT are not permitted.
Financial incentives
Financial incentives Incentives are granted to beneficiary companies in the following forms, in combination with each other:
in the form of a direct contribution to expenditure, for a nominal percentage of eligible costs and expenses, broken down as follows:
1) 35 percent for small businesses;
2) 30 percent for medium-sized enterprises;
3) 25 percent for large enterprises.
in the form of subsidized financing, for a nominal percentage equal to 50 percent of eligible costs and expenses;
For research organizations, subsidies are granted in the form of direct contributions to expenses, covering 60% of eligible costs and expenses for industrial research activities and 40% of eligible costs and expenses for experimental development.
Program duration
Research and development projects must have a duration of no less than 18 months and no more than 36 months and must be started after the application for subsidies has been submitted. It is possible to request an extension of the project completion deadline of no more than 12 months.
Cumulability
The subsidies granted in relation to the research and development projects referred to in this decree cannot be combined, with reference to the same expenses, with other public subsidies that constitute state aid, including those granted under the “de minimis” rule.
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