The financial aid is intended for businesses established in Luxembourg that plan to build, modernise or manage the innovation cluster. This cluster is an entity or a group composed of independent parties, such as innovative start-ups, small, medium-sized or large enterprises, research institutes, knowledge dissemination organisations, research infrastructures, testing and experimentation infrastructures, digital innovation clusters, non-profit organisations, and other related economic actors.

This cluster is intended to stimulate innovation and new opportunities for collaboration through:

• the sharing of facilities, or the promotion of shared facilities;
• the exchange of knowledge and expertise;
• support for knowledge transfer, networking, the dissemination of information and collaboration between the companies and entities that comprise the cluster.

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

The eligible costs covered by the investment aid are the investment costs incurred for tangible and intangible assets.

The eligible costs covered by the financial aid for the management of the cluster are payroll expenses and administrative costs related to the following activities:

• promotional operations to attract new members to the innovation cluster and to increase the cluster's visibility;
• management of facilities at the innovation cluster;
• organisation of training programmes, workshops and conferences to facilitate knowledge transfer and networking between members of the innovation cluster, as well as cross-border collaboration;
• management of activities designed to foster collaboration, information sharing, and the provision of specialised and needs-oriented support services to companies.

The application must be submitted before the commencement of the work.

Submitting the application

You (or your representative) must submit the application for financial aid for innovation clusters through the online assistant available on MyGuichet.lu.

This is a procedure that requires authentication using a LuxTrust product or an electronic identity card (eID).

Supporting documents

Applications for aid 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;
• a financing plan, which demonstrates that the applicant business has the necessary equity capital that corresponds to the financial scale of the project;
• for applications for more than EUR 500,000, submitted by large businesses: a description of the likely counterfactual scenario if the aid is not granted. The counterfactual scenario may consist of an alternative project or the lack of an alternative project;
• for aid less than EUR 100,000: a sworn statement about other de minimis aid received in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2023/2831 or Regulation (EU) 1407/2013;
• 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 will be calculated on the basis of the eligible costs of the project up to the following caps:

The management-related financial aid is restricted to a period of no more than 10 years.

Payment of the aid

The capital grant is paid after completion of the project.

However, one or more aid instalments may be requested after a portion of the costs for which the aid was granted is incurred.

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