In the last years the European Commission adopted some rules that should facilitate the granting of aid measures by Member States in support of research, development and innovation (R&D&I) activities.

The R&D&I state aid Framework sets out the rules under which Member States can grant state aid to companies to carry out R&D&I activities. Moreover, the scope of measures that no longer need to be notified to the Commission for prior approval has been widened under the new General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER). These new rules will help Member States reach the targets of the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, while at the same time limiting distortions in the Single Market.

R&D&I projects might suffer from insufficient access to finance (due to asymmetric information) or from coordination problems among firms. Therefore, state aid for R&D&I can be compatible with the internal market where it can be expected to alleviate a market failure in promoting the execution of an important project of common interest.

Topics:

• Concept and regulatory Framework:
  • EU and Member State support for R&D
  • Concept of State Aid for R&D&I
  • General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) provisions on R&D&I
  • Framework on R&D&I
• Special sessions on:
  • Non-economic research vs economic research
  • Collaborative research between research organisations and undertakings
  • Identification of market failure and determination of necessity and proportionality of state aid and use of repayable advances
  • Design of claw-back mechanisms in the funding of research infrastructures
• Case studies from Member States on
  • How to identify innovative SMEs and choose an appropriate funding instruments
  • How to encourage the cooperation between research organisations and undertakings
  • How to  fund research infrastructure
• Interactive Discussion round and exchange of views