Guide published – 27.07.2023

Specific objective

RSO1.1 – Developing and enhancing research and innovation capabilities and adopting advanced technologies

RSO1.3 – Intensification of sustainable growth and competitiveness of SMEs and job creation within SMEs, including through productive investments

The type of call

Competitive, with deadline

Call opening date: 07.09.2023 at 10:00

Call closing date: 07.03.2024 at 10:00

The allocated budget

21,764,706.00 euros

Eligible applicants are:

The companies established up to the date of submission of the financing application based on Law no. 31/1990 on companies and which will have their registered office in the North-West Development Region of Romania at the latest at the time of the first aid payment.

Minimum eligibility conditions:

The company must be considered a start-up and be innovative

In order to demonstrate the character of a newly established enterprise, the legal entity must cumulatively meet the following conditions:

• did not take over the activity of another enterprise;
• did not make any distribution or profit distribution;
• it was not formed by a merger;
• it was not registered at most three years before the submission of the financing application, and five years before the signing of the financing contract;
• has not been and is not listed on the official list of a stock exchange, with the exception of alternative trading platforms;
• fall into the category of micro-enterprises or small enterprises at the date of submission of the financing application and at the contracting stage in accordance with the provisions of Law 346/2004 on the stimulation of the establishment and development of SMEs and Regulation (EU) no. 651/2014 (see below)

The innovative character of the enterprise is fulfilled:

• by means of an assessment carried out by an accredited innovation and technology transfer entity (or an expert in the exceptional conditions below), through which it is argued that the applicant will in the foreseeable future develop products, services or processes that are new or substantially improved in relation to the current state of technology in the respective sector and which present the risk of a technological or industrial malfunction

or

• in the situation where the costs related to the research and development activity represent at least 10 % of its total operating costs recorded at least during one of the three years preceding the granting of the aid, respectively during one of the three years preceding the submission of the application for financing;

The applicant's field of activity

The applicant for financing does not have research and development as the main object of activity (according to the ONRC ascertaining certificate).

The applicant carries out activities in the eligible fields of activity.

The applicant must have been in business for an appropriate period so that there is a financial history for at least one previous fiscal year (submitted annual financial statements, including partially completed year) at the time of submitting the financing application, as well as the applicant not having had the activity temporarily suspended, at any time during the year of submitting the CF

The applicant and/or his legal representative do NOT fall into any of the exclusion situations presented in the Single Declaration (in difficulty, insolvency/bankruptcy)

Rights over the property/properties, object of the project

The project implementation site is located:

• in the urban environment of the North West region (including villages belonging to cities and municipalities)
• in the rural environment of the North West region

The applicant will hold (at the latest in the contracting stage) rights over the property/properties that are the object of the investment within the project.

The minimum and maximum eligible/non-reimbursable value of a project – 200,001 euros – 1,500,000 euros

Co-financing rate

The amount of co-financing granted represents the non-refundable eligible value and is calculated by applying the co-financing rate granted by 100% to the eligible value.

Actions supported within the call

Development of CDI structures in newly established innovative enterprises

• Industrial research and/or experimental development activities (at a minimum level of TRL3), with the main objective of putting innovative products and services on the market (including series 0);
• Innovation activities in newly established innovative enterprises, carried out individually by them and/or through outsourced innovation services;
• Adoption (Purchase) of advanced technologies and/or building/modernizing own RDI spaces of newly established innovative enterprises, supporting innovation activities (approach to the value chain of innovation – RDI activities, valorization of products/services);

Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs

• The purchase of equipment, technologies, machines, as well as investments in the construction/modernization of production spaces/related service provision, to serve the market valorization of the results of research-development-innovation/technological transfer activities;

IMPORTANT!

The threshold of excellence for submitting projects in Stage 1 is a minimum of 85 points.

The distribution 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:

1.5. Relevance of the project

3. Experience in developing the project idea of the applicant's team.