Final guide – 25.08.2023

Specific objective

Developing and enhancing research and innovation capabilities and adopting advanced technologies

The type of call

Competitive, with deadline

Call opening date: 16.10.2023 at 10:00

Call closing date: 13.04.2024 at 10:00

The allocated budget

23,811,306 euros

Eligible applicants are:

• The companies established on the basis of Law no. 31/1990 with subsequent amendments and additions, which fall under the category micro, small and medium enterprises and who carried out activity for a period corresponding to at least one fiscal year prior to the submission of the funding request.
• Established partnerships between the above enterprises or partnerships established between the above enterprises and large enterprises.

Minimum eligibility requirements

• The applicant/partnership leader/partner carries out activities in the eligible fields of activity according to the pillars and fields defined in the Smart Specialization Strategy of the North-West Development Region (RIS3)
• The applicant/partnership leader/partner will be registered in the Northwest Region
• The applicant/partnership leader/partner carried out activity for a period corresponding to at least one fiscal year and recorded an operating profit (>0 lei) in the fiscal year prior to the submission of the financing application and did not have the activity suspended at any time in the year of submission of the application for FUNDING
• The financial capacity of the applicant/partnership leader/partner to ensure their own contribution to the amount of eligible expenses, as well as to cover non-eligible expenses and to ensure the operating and maintenance costs of the investment and the necessary associated services, in order to ensure its financial sustainability, on the period of implementation and sustainability of the project
• The applicant/partnership leader/partner complies with the condition regarding the minimum number of employees (at least one, in the fiscal year preceding the submission of the funding request)
• The applicant/partnership leader/partner and/or his/her legal representative, if applicable, does NOT fall into any of the exclusion situations presented in the Single Declaration
• Rights over the property/properties, object of the project (The applicant will demonstrate during the contracting stage the rights for the space intended for the implementation of the project)

Minimum and maximum eligible/non-reimbursable value of a project – 500,000 euros – 3,000,000 euros

Co-financing rate

Under this call, the eligible activities and related expenses may be financed by aid for research and development projects and aid for innovation intended for SMEs, according to the provisions of the applicable state aid scheme.

Details of the co-financing rate, depending on the type of aid applicable:

A. Grants for research and development projects

B. Innovation aid for SMEs

For the projects submitted under this call, the amount of the applicant's co-financing within the limit of the intensity of the aid for innovation intended for SMEs (art. 28) provided for in Regulation (EU) 651/2014, with subsequent amendments and additions, is at least 50% for the following eligible costs :

• the costs of obtaining, validating and protecting patents and other intangible assets;
• the costs of seconding highly qualified staff from a research and knowledge dissemination body or a large enterprise carrying out research, development and innovation activities to a newly created function within the beneficiary enterprise, without replace other staff members;
• costs for consultancy and support services in the field of innovation, including services provided by research and knowledge dissemination organisations, research infrastructures, test and experimentation infrastructures or innovation clusters.

Actions supported within the call

Development of RDI structures within companies and capitalization of results in the market (RDI projects & market transfer). The call based on this guide aims to finance research and development and innovation projects submitted by SMEs or SMEs in partnership with large enterprises.

Supported actions are:

1. RDI activities, including through the adoption of advanced research technologies by SMEs or SMEs in partnership with large enterprises;
2. Industrial research and/or experimental development activities (at a minimum level of TRL3), including through the adoption of advanced technologies, carried out by SMEs, or SMEs in partnership with large enterprises, with the aim of putting products and services on the market innovative (including series 0);
3. The purchase of equipment, technologies, machinery, to serve the capitalization of the results of RDI activities by SMEs or SMEs in partnership with large enterprises, on RDI activities as well as supporting the settlement of depreciation costs of buildings dedicated to RDI activities, corresponding the duration of the project.

IMPORTANT!

Projects that, according to the automatic allocation/self-evaluation of the score in the electronic system, reach the excellent threshold of 70 points, will be evaluated according to the order of submission and will be proposed for contracting, within the budget allocated for the call for projects, provided that the score is maintained and following the technical-financial evaluation.

The division of projects with the same score will be done by prioritizing the projects submitted according to the score obtained for the following criteria/sub-criteria, in the order below:

• The share of the value of research and innovation equipment in the total value of the project (sub-criterion);
• The number of researchers to work in the supported entity (ENI – full-time equivalent) (sub-criterion);
• The project ensures the fulfillment of the cost-efficiency criterion regarding the innovation of products and/or services (sub-criterion);
• In the situation where, even after the application of the previously presented mechanism, the projects have the same score, the ranking of the projects will be done taking into account the order of their submission.