Commission Regulation (EC) No 800/2008 (repealed)Show full title

SECTION 7 Aid for research and development and innovation

Article 30 Definitions

For the purposes of this Section, the following definitions shall apply:

1.

‘research organisation’ means an entity, such as a university or research institute, irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development and to disseminate their its results by way of teaching, publication or technology transfer; all profits must be reinvested in these activities, the dissemination of their results or teaching; undertakings that can exert influence upon such an organisation, for instance in their capacity as shareholders or members of the organisation, shall enjoy no preferential access to the research capacities of such an organisation or to the research results generated by it;

2.

‘fundamental research’ means experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any direct practical application or use in view;

3.

‘industrial research’ means the planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services. It comprises the creation of components parts to complex systems, which is necessary for the industrial research, notably for generic technology validation, to the exclusion of prototypes;

4.

‘experimental development’ means the acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills for the purpose of producing plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These may also include, for instance, other activities aiming at the conceptual definition, planning and documentation of new products, processes or services. Those activities may comprise producing drafts, drawings, plans and other documentation, provided that they are not intended for commercial use;

The development of commercially usable prototypes and pilot projects is also included where the prototype is necessarily the final commercial product and where it is too expensive to produce for it to be used only for demonstration and validation purposes. In case of a subsequent commercial use of demonstration or pilot projects, any revenue generated from such use must be deducted from the eligible costs.

The experimental production and testing of products, processes and services shall also be eligible, provided that these cannot be used or transformed to be used in industrial applications or commercially.

Experimental development shall not include routine or periodic changes made to products, production lines, manufacturing processes, existing services and other operations in progress, even if such changes may represent improvements;

5.

‘highly qualified personnel’ means researchers, engineers, designers and marketing managers with tertiary education degree and at least 5 years of relevant professional experience; doctoral training may count as relevant professional experience;

6.

‘secondment’ means temporary employment of personnel by a beneficiary during a period of time, after which the personnel has the right to return to its previous employer.

Article 31 Aid for research and development projects

1. Aid for research and development projects shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty provided that the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The aided part of the research and development project shall completely fall within one or more of the following research categories:

(a) fundamental research;

(b) industrial research;

(c) experimental development.

When a project encompasses different tasks, each task shall be qualified as falling under one of the categories listed in the first subparagraph or as not falling under any of those categories.

3. The aid intensity shall not exceed:

(a) 100 % of the eligible costs for fundamental research;

(b) 50 % of the eligible costs for industrial research;

(c) 25 % of the eligible costs for experimental development.

The aid intensity shall be established for each beneficiary of aid, including in a collaboration project, as provided in paragraph 4(b)(i).

In the case of aid for a research and development project being carried out in collaboration between research organisations and undertakings, the combined aid deriving from direct government support for a specific project and, where they constitute aid, contributions from research organisations to that project may not exceed the applicable aid intensities for each beneficiary undertaking.

4. The aid intensities set for industrial research and experimental development in paragraph 3 may be increased as follows:

(a) where the aid is granted to SMEs, the aid intensity may be increased by 10 percentage points for medium-sized enterprises and by 20 percentage points for small enterprises; and

(b) a bonus of 15 percentage points may be added, up to a maximum aid intensity of 80 % of the eligible costs, if:

(i)

the project involves effective collaboration between at least two undertakings which are independent of each other and the following conditions are fulfilled:

• no single undertaking bears more than 70 % of the eligible costs of the collaboration project,

• the project involves collaboration with at least one SME or is carried out in at least two different Member States, or

(ii)

the project involves effective collaboration between an undertaking and a research organisation and the following conditions are fulfilled:

• the research organisation bears at least 10 % of the eligible project costs, and

• the research organisation has the right to publish the results of the research projects insofar as they stem from research carried out by that organisation, or

(iii)

in the case of industrial research, the results of the project are widely disseminated through technical and scientific conferences or through publication in scientific or technical journals or in open access repositories (databases where raw research data can be accessed by anyone), or through free or open source software.

For the purposes of point (b)(i) and (ii) of the first subparagraph, subcontracting shall not be considered to be effective collaboration.

5. The eligible costs shall be the following:

(a) personnel costs (researchers, technicians and other supporting staff to the extent employed on the research project);

(b) costs of instruments and equipment to the extent and for the period used for the research project; if such instruments and equipment are not used for their full life for the research project, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the research project, as calculated on the basis of good accounting practice, shall be considered eligible;

(c) costs for buildings and land, to the extent and for the duration used for the research project; with regard to buildings, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the life of the research project, as calculated on the basis of good accounting practice shall be considered eligible; for land, costs of commercial transfer or actually incurred capital costs shall be eligible;

(d) cost of contractual research, technical knowledge and patents bought or licensed from outside sources at market prices, where the transaction has been carried out at arm’s length and there is no element of collusion involved, as well as costs of consultancy and equivalent services used exclusively for the research activity;

(e) additional overheads incurred directly as a result of the research project;

(f) other operating costs, including costs of materials, supplies and similar products incurred directly as a result of the research activity.

6. All eligible costs shall be allocated to a specific category of research and development.

Article 32 Aid for technical feasibility studies

1. Aid for technical feasibility studies preparatory to industrial research or experimental development activities shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, provided that the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The aid intensity shall not exceed:

(a) for SMEs, 75 % of the eligible costs for studies preparatory to industrial research activities and 50 % of the eligible costs for studies preparatory to experimental development activities;

(b) for large enterprises, 65 % of the eligible costs for studies preparatory to industrial research activities and 40 % of the eligible costs for studies preparatory to experimental development activities.

3. The eligible costs shall be the costs of the study.

Article 33 Aid for industrial property rights costs for SMEs

1. Aid to SMEs for the costs associated with obtaining and validating patents and other industrial property rights shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, provided the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The aid intensity shall not exceed the intensity for research and development project aid laid down in Article 31(3) and (4), in respect of the research activities which first led to the industrial property rights concerned.

3. The eligible costs shall be the following:

(a) all costs preceding the grant of the right in the first jurisdiction, including costs relating to the preparation, filing and prosecution of the application as well as costs incurred in renewing the application before the right has been granted;

(b) translation and other costs incurred in order to obtain the granting or validation of the right in other legal jurisdictions;

(c) costs incurred in defending the validity of the right during the official prosecution of the application and possible opposition proceedings, even if such costs occur after the right is granted.

Article 34 Aid for research and development in the agricultural and fisheries sectors

1. Aid for research and development concerning products listed in Annex I to the Treaty shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, provided that the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 7 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The aid shall be of interest to all operators in the particular sector or sub-sector concerned.

3. Information that research will be carried out, and with which goal, shall be published on the internet, prior to the commencement of the research. An approximate date of expected results and their place of publication on the internet, as well as a mention that the result will be available at no cost, must be included.

The results of the research shall be made available on internet, for a period of at least 5 years. They shall be published no later than any information which may be given to members of any particular organisation.

4. Aid shall be granted directly to the research organisation and must not involve the direct granting of non-research related aid to a company producing, processing or marketing agricultural products, nor provide price support to producers of such products.

5. The aid intensity shall not exceed 100 % of the eligible costs.

6. The eligible costs shall be those provided in Article 31(5).

7. Aid for research and development concerning products listed in Annex I to the Treaty and not fulfilling the conditions laid down in this Article shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3)(c) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, provided the conditions laid down in Articles 30, 31 and 32 of this Regulation are fulfilled.

Article 35 Aid to young innovative enterprises

1. Aid to young innovative enterprises shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, provided that the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The beneficiary shall be a small enterprise that has been in existence for less than 6 years at the time when the aid is granted.

3. The research and development costs of the beneficiary shall represent at least 15 % of its total operating costs in at least one of the three years preceding the granting of the aid or, in the case of a start-up enterprise without any financial history, in the audit of its current fiscal period, as certified by an external auditor.

4. The aid amount shall not exceed EUR 1 million.

However, the aid amount shall not exceed EUR 1,5 million in regions eligible for the derogation provided for in Article 87(3)(a) of the Treaty, and EUR 1,25 million in regions eligible for the derogation provided for in Article 87(3)(c) of the Treaty.

5. The beneficiary may receive the aid only once during the period in which it qualifies as a young innovative enterprise.

Article 36 Aid for innovation advisory services and for innovation support services

1. Aid for innovation advisory services and for innovation support services shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, provided that the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 6 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The beneficiary shall be an SME.

3. The aid amount shall not exceed a maximum of EUR 200 000 per beneficiary within any three year period.

4. The service provider shall benefit from a national or European certification. If the service provider does not benefit from a national or European certification, the aid intensity shall not exceed 75 % of the eligible costs.

5. The beneficiary must use the aid to buy the services at market price, or if the service provider is a non-for-profit entity, at a price which reflects its full costs plus a reasonable margin.

6. The eligible costs shall be the following:

(a) as regards innovation advisory services, the costs relating to: management consulting, technological assistance, technology transfer services, training, consultancy for acquisition, protection and trade in Intellectual Property Rights and for licensing agreements, consultancy on the use of standards;

(b) as regards innovation support services, the costs relating to: office space, data banks, technical libraries, market research, use of laboratory, quality labelling, testing and certification.

Article 37 Aid for the loan of highly qualified personnel

1. Aid for the loan of highly qualified personnel seconded from a research organisation or a large enterprise to an SME shall be compatible with the common market within the meaning of Article 87(3) of the Treaty and shall be exempt from the notification requirement of Article 88(3) of the Treaty, provided that the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article are fulfilled.

2. The seconded personnel must not be replacing other personnel, but must be employed in a newly created function within the beneficiary undertaking and must have been employed for at least two years in the research organisation or the large enterprise, which is sending the personnel on secondment.

The seconded personnel must work on research and development and innovation activities within the SME receiving the aid.

3. The aid intensity shall not exceed 50 % of the eligible costs, for a maximum of 3 years per undertaking and per person borrowed.

4. The eligible costs shall be all personnel costs for borrowing and employing highly qualified personnel, including the costs of using a recruitment agency and of paying a mobility allowance for the seconded personnel.

5. This Article shall not apply to consultancy costs as referred to in Article 26.