Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs in the North-West Development Region

 Advisory guide – 29.03.2023

Objective
Enhancing the sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and creating jobs within SMEs, including through productive investments

The type of call
Competitive with deadline submission

The allocated budget
46,714,503.60 euros

Eligible beneficiaries
Companies that fall into the category of micro-enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises in urban and rural areas registered in the North West region

Minimum eligibility criteria

• The applicant has carried out activity for a corresponding period of at least one fiscal year and recorded an operating profit in the fiscal year prior to the submission of the funding application and must have been established no later than January 3, 2022
• The applicant did not have the activity suspended at any time during the year of submission of the funding application
• The applicant registered and registers, including at the date of the grant of the aid, an average number of employees of at least 3, in the fiscal year prior to the submission of the funding request
• The applicant and/or his legal representative are not in difficulty/insolvency/bankruptcy
• The applicant undertakes to ensure his own contribution to the value of the eligible expenses, as well as the coverage of the ineligible expenses of the project

 Non-refundable financial aid

• State aid
• De minimis aid

Amount of non-refundable financial aid: minimum 200,000 euros - maximum 1,500,000 euros
The percentage of the non-refundable financial aid is granted according to the category of the enterprise and the county to which the applicant belongs, as follows:

Medium enterprises

• Bihor, Cluj – 50%
• Bistrita, Maramureș, Satu-Mare, Sălaj – 60%

Small and micro-enterprises

• Bihor, Cluj – 60%
• Bistrita, Maramureș, Satu-Mare, Sălaj – 70%

For the component of de minimis aid of the project, the contribution of the program is a maximum of 100% of the eligible value of the expenses financed by de minimis aid and within the limit of the de minimis ceiling of a maximum of 200,000 euros

 Type of investment:

• the purchase of equipment, technologies, innovative machines, as well as investments in production spaces/related services
• investment in advanced production techniques – investment in tangible and intangible assets related to industrial modernization for the sectors of smart specialization, industrial design, including design-based innovation, mass customization (3D printing, direct digital manufacturing), marketing activities
• support in the acquisition by SMEs of patents, licenses or non-patented technical solutions
• capitalization by SMEs of the research results
• the valorization of some research results (the continuation initiative of the Research Valorization Program action - developed within the action with the World Bank "Supporting catching up regions in Romania"

Types of eligible activities

1. Investments in tangible assets

• construction works, expansion of production/service spaces
• the purchase of technological equipment, machines, work installations, furniture, computer equipment, office equipment
• the purchase of specific installations/equipment in order to obtain an energy saving, as well as systems that use renewable (alternative) energy sources for the efficiency of the activities for which funding has been requested

2. Investments in intangible assets 

• patents, licenses, know-how or other intellectual property rights (maximum 20% of the eligible value of tangible assets that are the subject of the project)

To remember!

Keeping the average number of employees at least at the level recorded in the financial year prior to the submission of the funding application is a condition of eligibility applicable throughout the period of evaluation, selection, contracting, implementation and respectively during the period in which the sustainable nature of the investment must be maintained (3 years after making the final payment under the financing contract).

Also, the eligibility condition is the increase in turnover compared to the year before submitting the funding request and the creation of at least one new full-time job that it maintains throughout the sustainability period.