Financial aid for research and development projects (R&D)

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Financial aid in the form of a subsidy or a repayable advance is available for companies and private sector research organisations that carry out research and development (R&D) projects. The aid can cover a percentage of the eligible costs, depending on the size of the company and the type of project or programme.

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?

Financial aid is available for companies and private research organisations established in Luxembourg in connection with the following activities:

  • experimental development, i.e. acquiring, combining, shaping and using scientific, technological and commercial knowledge and skills with a view to developing new or improved products, processes or services;
  • fundamental research, i.e. experimental or theoretical work undertaken to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any direct practical application or commercial use in view;
  • industrial research, i.e. the planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for significantly improving existing products, processes or services ;
  • public-private partnerships (PPP), i.e. effective and interactive collaborations between private companies and public research institutes.

With regard to public-private partnerships, it is possible to:

  • set up a partnership in the context of a research and development project; or
  • participate in thematic calls for projects launched by the Ministry of the Economy together with Luxinnovation and the FNR (Luxembourg National Research Fund). The practical terms of calls for projects (themes, submission deadlines) can be found on the Research Industry Collaboration website.

Prerequisites

Terms and conditions

Companies and private research organisations must satisfy the terms and conditions that apply to all types of aid for research, development and innovation.

Eligible costs

All costs directly related to the R&D projects or programmes are eligible:

  • payroll expenses: researchers, technicians and other support staff employed for the project or programme;
  • expenses for instruments and equipment, if and for as long as they are being used for the project or programme. If such instruments and equipment are not used for their full life within the framework of the project or programme, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the duration of the project or programme, calculated in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles, shall be deemed admissible.
  • expenses for buildings, if and for as long as they are being used for the project or programme. As far as buildings are concerned, only the depreciation costs corresponding to the duration of the project or programme, calculated in accordance with the generally accepted accounting principles, are deemed admissible. As for land, only the costs of commercial transfer or actually incurred investment costs are eligible;
  • expenses for contract research or research services, the purchase of knowledge and patents or licences from external sources under conditions of full competition as well as costs of consultancy and equivalent services used exclusively for the project or programme;
  • additional overheads and other operating expenses (in particular, cost of materials, office supplies and similar products) incurred directly as a result of the project or programme.

How to proceed

Submitting the application

Application for aid for research and development projects

The application for financial aid for research and development projects (R&D) is to be submitted using the online assistant available on MyGuichet.lu.

The person submitting the application (the applicants themselves or their representatives) must have a LuxTrust product (e.g. Token, Smartcard or Signing Stick) or an electronic identity card.

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

How to create a business eSpace on MyGuichet.lu

There are 2 possible scenarios:

  1. The person submitting the application is a new user of MyGuichet.lu. They must:
    • first register on MyGuichet.lu; and
    • then create a business eSpace.
  2. The person submitting the application already has a private eSpace on MyGuichet.lu. They 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.

Call for projects

Companies and public research organisations interested in call for projects are invited to submit their project proposals on the Research Industry Collaboration online platform. After a first evaluation phase, the selected companies are invited to submit their application for aid on MyGuichet.lu under the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) aid scheme.

Supporting documents

The application for aid must include the following information and documents:

  • the name and size of the company;
  • a description of the project or programme, of the activity or investment, and of the related works and its innovative nature, including its start and end dates;
  • a description of the economic valuation methods for the results of the project or programme, for the activity or the investment and the related operations, and its economic potential;
  • the location of the project or programme, activity or investment and related operations;
  • a list of the costs for the project or programme, activity or investment and related operations;
  • the type and amount of aid necessary for the project or programme, activity or investment and related operations;
  • any relevant piece of information that will allow the competent ministers to assess the qualities or specificities of the project or programme, activity or investment and related operations plus its incentive effect.

Each business which was established less than 3 years ago is required to provide a business plan.

Maximum amounts of financial aid available

For each R&D project or programme, the gross amount of aid cannot be less than EUR 1,000.

The amount of the aid provided will be calculated on the basis of the eligible costs of the project or initiative, up to the following caps:

 

Large companies or large private research organisations

Medium-sized company*** or medium-sized private research institute

Small business*** or small private research institute

Experimental development

25 %

35 %

45 %

Experimental development + supplement*

40 %

50 %

60 %

Industrial research

50 %

60 %

70 %

Industrial research + supplement*

65 %

75 %

80 %**

Fundamental research

100 %

100 %

100 %

* The supplement becomes payable if one of the following conditions is met:

  • the project is based on effective collaboration:
    • between 2 businesses where at least one is an SME, or the project is carried out in at least 2 Member States, or in one Member State and in another EEA member country (European Economic Area), and no single business is supporting more than 70 % of the allowable costs on its own; or
    • between one business and one or more research organisations and knowledge dissemination organisations where the latter support at least 10 % of the allowable costs and have the right to publish the results of their own research;
  • the results of the project or programme are disseminated through conferences, publications, open access repositories or free or freely accessible software.

** The maximum foreseen financial aid for industrial research, all premiums included.

*** Please see the procedure on General conditions for financial aid for research, development and innovation.

Payment of the aid

The capital subsidy and repayable advance are paid out after the completion of the project, programme or activity.

However, one or more advance payments may be made as the investments are made.

The application for payment of the aid is to be submitted using the online assistant available on MyGuichet.lu. This can be done in 2 different ways:

  1. in a detailed manner, where each individual cost is reported: to be used if there are 10 invoices or less to be declared; or
  2. in a summarised manner, where the total per 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".

The person submitting the payment application (the applicants themselves or their representatives) must have a LuxTrust product (e.g. Token, Smartcard or Signing Stick) or an electronic identity card (eID).

Online services and forms

Who to contact

General Directorate - Industry, New Technologies and Research (Financing and State Aid)

Luxinnovation

Related procedures and links

Procedures

General terms and conditions applicable to all financial aid for research, development and innovation Creating a business eSpace

Tutorials

Links

Legal references

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