The funding is granted in dependence on the innovation phase in the form of non-repayable grants and/or subsidized loans.
The following maximum funding rates apply to the eligible expenses:
- Industrial research phase: 80%
- Experimental development phase: 60%
- Feasibility studies: 70%
The maximum funding rates include the bonus for SMEs and consortium projects.
Funding with grants: The funding by grants is up to €3 million per project. The funding for companies can be granted as a grant in the industrial research phase, for process and organizational innovations and for feasibility studies. Research institutions can be funded with a grant for the phases of industrial research and experimental development.
Funding with loans: The phases of experimental development and market preparation/market introduction are basically funded with subsidized loans.
Conditions:
Conditions for loans: The funding by loans is up to €3 million per project. Loans can finance up to 100% of the eligible expenses. However, this high co-financing rate is only possible if a combination with grants is present, since the total financing rate for an overall project must not exceed 80%.
The conditions (term, interest rates, capital services) are determined on a case-by-case basis by the ILB. The grace period is up to a maximum of 3 years and the term of the loans is up to 10 years. The aid value of the loans is determined from the value of the interest subsidy for the approved loans. This can result in a limitation of the loan amount and interest rates. To determine the aid values, the Commission's communication on the amendment of the method for determining the reference and discount rates (publication in the Official Journal of the European Union C 14 of 19.1.2008, p. 6) is applied.
For market preparation and market introduction, loans are granted as de minimis aid. Within three calendar years, the total amount of de minimis aid for a company must not exceed the amount of €200,000.
