Financial aid for innovative start-ups
Last update
Innovative start-ups may be eligible for financial aid, mainly in the form of subsidies. The aid covers a portion of the eligible costs.
The Ministry of the Economy (Ministère de l’Économie) supports innovative start-ups by co-financing up to 70 % of the estimated financing requirement over a maximum of 3 years. The business must demonstrate that this financial aid will be supplemented by private financing.
Applications for aid must be submitted using the online assistant available on MyGuichet.lu.
Luxinnovation can provide help to set up your projects.
Who is concerned
The financial aid is intended for small businesses established in Luxembourg that meet all of the following conditions:
- must be an unlisted small business that has been registered for less than 5 years, and that:
- has not taken over the activity from another business;
- has not yet distributed profits;
- has not been acquired by another business and was not formed through a merger;
- had a turnover of at least EUR 40,000 in the last financial year or the last 12 months;
- can present its financing requirement for a maximum of 3 years;
- can demonstrate that the aid it is applying for is supplemented by private financing;
- must be an innovative business that has a certificate issued by Luxinnovation that confirms that:
- in the foreseeable future, it will develop new or substantially improved products, services or processes compared to the existing state of the art in the sector in question, and which present a risk of technological or industrial failure;
- its R&D expenses account for at least 15% of its operating expenses for at least the previous 3 years.
For additional information on the eligibility criteria, please refer to the Law of 6 June 2025.
Prerequisites
Terms and conditions
Beneficiaries of the financial aid must satisfy the terms and conditions that apply to all types of aid for research, development and innovation.
Eligible costs
All costs incurred by the innovative start-up are eligible for the duration of the project.
Deadlines
The application must be submitted before the commencement of the work.
How to proceed
Submitting the application
You (or your representative) must submit the application for financial aid using the online assistant available on MyGuichet.lu.
This is a procedure that requires authentication using a LuxTrust product or an electronic identity card (eID).
How to create a business eSpace on MyGuichet.lu
There are 2 possible scenarios:
- You are a new user of MyGuichet.lu. You must:
- first register on MyGuichet.lu; and
- then create a business eSpace.
- You already have a private eSpace on MyGuichet.lu. You can directly create a business eSpace without having to register again.
Further information as well as tutorials in relation with the business eSpace are available in our dedicated help page.
Supporting documents
The financial aid application must be submitted no later than 4 months before the end of the 5-year eligibility period. It must include the following information and documents:
- the name and description of the business;
- the size of the business in accordance with Annex I of Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014;
- the business's organisational chart;
- the annual financial statements for the last 2 financial years of the applicant business and, where applicable, of the single economic entity it belongs to;
- a description of the project, including its start and end dates;
- a description of the project's economic potential;
- if necessary, a description of:
- how the aid-funded asset is operated;
- what makes the project innovative;
- the technological challenges of the project;
- the economic valuation of the outcome of the project;
- the location of the project;
- the list of the project's eligible costs;
- the form and the amount of aid required for the project;
- the project's business plan, which:
- lists the costs and expected revenue; and
- supports the scenarios presented;
- describes, among other things, the operating activities, their location, what makes the business's products and services innovative, and includes a marketing plan for them;
- the financing plan:
- which demonstrates that the applicant business has the necessary equity capital that corresponds to the financial scale of the project; and
- which demonstrates the financing requirement as the difference between the projected income and all expenses;
- for aid less than EUR 100,000: a declaration of honour about other de minimis aid received in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 or Regulation (EU) 1407/2013;
- the certificate issued by Luxinnovation (National Agency for Innovation and Research), which confirms that the business is innovative;
- any relevant information that will allow the appropriate ministers to assess the qualities or specific features of the project or the incentive effect of the aid.
Maximum amount of financial aid
The amount of aid is calculated on the basis of the eligible costs of the project, and may not exceed the cap of EUR 1 million per business.
Payment of the aid
The capital grant is paid after completion of the project.
However, 2 aid instalments, which represent a maximum of 70 % of the aid, may be paid during the project.
The application for payment of the aid is to be submitted using the online assistant available on MyGuichet.lu.
This is a procedure that requires authentication using a LuxTrust product or an electronic identity card (eID).
This can be done in 2 different ways:
- by providing a detailed breakdown of costs, where each individual cost item is reported: to be used if there are 10 invoices or less to be declared; or
- by providing a summary statement of costs, where the total for each type of cost is reported: to be used if there are more than 10 invoices to be declared.
Details of the documents to be provided depending on the cost statement templates are available under 'Pièces à joindre à la démarche en ligne MyGuichet.lu de demande de paiement'.
Online services and forms
Who to contact
-
Ministry of the Economy General Directorate - Industry, New Technologies and Research (Financing and State Aid)
- Address:
-
19-21, boulevard Royal
L-2449
Luxembourg
Luxembourg
L-2914 Luxembourg
- Email address:
- FAE@eco.etat.lu
- Website:
- https://meco.gouvernement.lu/fr.html
-
Luxinnovation Aid
- Address:
- 5, avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux L-4362 Esch-sur-Alzette
- Phone:
- (+352) 43 62 63 1
- Website:
- http://www.luxinnovation.lu
Related procedures and links
Procedures
Tutorials
Links
Further information
-
User guide to the SME definition
on the website of the Publications Office of the European Union
-
Tableau récapitulatif des différents types d'aides RDI
Pdf • 108 Ko
-
Summary table of the different types of aid
Pdf • 155 Kb
- Research Industry Collaboration
-
What is the size of your company?
Video by Luxinnovation on YouTube
-
Financial aid application procedure for businesses: List of attachments to be provided depending of the type of aid requested
Pdf • 133 Kb
-
Obtenir le certificat de Luxinnovation : démarche
sur Luxinnovation.lu
Legal references
-
Consolidated text: Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014
declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty
-
Consolidated text: Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 of 17 June 2014
declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty
-
Loi du 6 juin 2025
relative à la promotion de la recherche, du développement et de l’innovation