By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

The revised guide of the NSRF grant program “Research-Innovate” has been published by the Ministry of Development, as the first “version” that was posted almost a year ago had to be improved and changed in certain places to deal with delays and problems that arose.

The program has a budget of €300m, which is indicatively “broken” into the 4 interventions that should be addressed in funding applications for research and innovation projects:

– Research and Development by Businesses – €60m
– Business-Research Organization Partnerships – €180m
– Utilization of Research Results – €39m
– Seal of Excellence €21m

The main objective of the program as stated in the guide is to connect research and innovation with entrepreneurship and to strengthen the competitiveness, productivity and extroversion of businesses towards international markets, with the aim of transitioning to quality innovative entrepreneurship and increasing domestic added value worth.

For each intervention there is a maximum total supported budget:

– Research and Development by Businesses – €800,000
– Business-Research Organization Partnerships – €2 million
– Utilization of Research Results – €2m
-Seal of Excellence- At the Horizon Europe approved P/Y limit

Investment projects must not have a duration of implementation longer than 3 years with the possibility of an extension equal to 1/3 of the initial duration.

The amount of the subsidy depends on the size of the company and on whether the action concerns industrial research or experimental development.
Thus, in Research and Development by Businesses and in Business-Research Organization Partnerships, the subsidy varies from 50%-80% for industrial research and 25%-60% for experimental Development/
Exploitation of research results has a subsidy of 35%-60% and the Seal of Excellence 70%

In order for a business to be considered eligible, it must have closed at least 1 closed full (annual) management year and operate legally in the Greek region where the aid is located according to the funding application. The emphasis will be on SMEs and research organizations. The right to participate is also acquired by foreign, European, companies with the commitment to create a branch in Greece before the issuance of any document.

Each company can participate in up to 5 applications while there is no limit for research organizations.

Expenditures eligible for subsidy include:

-Wage of the staff
-Depreciation of instruments and equipment
– Depreciation of buildings and fields
-Contract research, know-how and patents purchased or licensed from external sources
-Operating expenses

The investment programs must concern one of the 8 categories below:
1. Materials, Construction & Industry
2. Tourism, Culture & Creative Industries
3. Agri-Food Chain
4. Environment & Circular Economy
5. Life Sciences, Health, Medicines
6. Transportation & Supply Chain
7. Sustainable Energy
8. Digital Technologies

In the next period, a ministerial decision will follow which will define the beginning and the end of the period for submitting proposals, which will be done through the website of the State Aid System (OPSKE). ). The possibility to register users in OPSKE (app.opske.gr/) is already activated and is done through AADE using taxisnet codes.