In the context of the post-Covid-19 economic recovery strategy " Neistart Lëtzebuerg ", Luxinnovation, with the support of the Ministry of the Economy, has set up a new strategic innovation programme called "Fit 4 Resilience".

Resilience is defined as the ability to get through crises and to reinvent oneself.

This programme takes the form of in-depth support for businesses of a certain size. It is designed to help them to:

1. analyse how they have been impacted by the crisis internally and externally, and;
2. study how to draw lessons from the crisis, both in their internal functioning (use of digital tools, leadership, internal communication, etc.) as well as from the perspective of systemic external changes (supply chains, more regional and/or circular approach, etc.).

The objective is to support them in a concrete way in the relaunch of their activities and to establish with them a short and medium-term strategic plan to make them more resilient.

Who is concerned

Eligible businesses

The programme is aimed in particular at businesses of a certain size within the Luxembourg ecosystem, in terms of the volume of their turnover, their impact on the ecosystem, their positioning in the local and regional supply chain, the number of employees, etc.

This may be:

• intermediate-sized companies (ETI);
• manufacturing companies;
• craft SMEs of a certain size;
  
• large traders or wholesalers, large companies, etc,

which have been structurally impacted by the Covid-19 crisis and feel that they need to reposition themselves, or even reinvent themselves, following the changes that the crisis has brought to their respective ecosystems.

Nature of the support

The support takes the form of face-to-face interviews and workshops (in compliance with the health precautions in force).

These are:

• carrying out a diagnosis of the business's strategic positioning including the analysis of its ecosystem, its products, its customers, its supply and distribution channels, in order to anticipate the impact of the crisis on these different components;
• then carrying out a structured reflection on the strategic choices to be made for the future, by integrating the perspective of a more digital, circular and regional approach.

The analysis is carried out with the help of consultants with, among other things, expertise in:

• strategy;
  
• management ;
• process optimisation;
  
• finance;
• new technologies.

In order to ensure the same level of quality in the coachings provided, all consultants apply the same methodology, defined upstream by Luxinnovation.

Prerequisites

Businesses must meet the general conditions applicable to all aid in the field of research, development and innovation.

To be eligible for the programme, they must meet the following cumulative criteria:

• have their registered office in Luxembourg;
• have a valid business permit issued by the Ministry of the Economy;
• the activity carried out must not be one of the sectors and activities excluded by:
  • the law on the establishment of a de minimis aid scheme; or
  • the law on an aid scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Preliminary steps

Before applying for the "Fit 4 Resilience" programme, the business must send several documents to Luxinnovation in order to verify its eligibility for the programme, including a cover letter in which the business manager justifies his request, in particular by objectively detailing the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on his business.

Luxinnovation will check the eligibility of the applications, within a maximum of one week, and will inform the businesses of the result of this examination by email (acceptance, correction, reorientation).

If the business is indeed eligible, the application form will need to be completed, dated and signed, and sent to the Ministry of the Economy.

Deadlines

The "Fit 4 Resilience" programme has a fixed duration and is a specific measure developed in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

Businesses can apply until 31 December 2020 on the Fit 4 Resilience online platform set up by Luxinnovation, which details all the terms and conditions of the programme.

Costs

The business benefiting from the programme commits to paying 50 % of the consultancy costs. The consultant's fees will be paid by the business according to the terms agreed upon beforehand. An offer will have to be signed between the business and the consultancy firm.

How to proceed

Filing an application

Eligible businesses must send their signed application to the Ministry of the Economy for consideration.

Processing the application

It is the receipt of the acknowledgement sent back by the Ministry of the Economy that marks the beginning of the project.

Amount of subsidy

The business will be able to choose the consultant of its choice from a list of approved consultants to whom it will ask for an estimate of the total cost of the project. These consultants are pre-selected upstream by Luxinnovation and must commit to accept any type of mission (small SMEs and large companies).

The business benefiting from the programme undertakes to pay 50 % of the consultancy costs. The consultant's fees will be paid by the business according to the terms agreed upon beforehand. An offer will have to be signed between the business and the consultancy firm.

This offer must specifically include, among other things, an explicit reference to the "Fit 4 Resilience" programme as well as a methodological note containing the essential elements of this program (objective, purpose, approach & methodology, deliverables, ...).

The remuneration for a strategic coaching programme will be proportional to the total workload for the consultant (on-site interviews, workshops, report writing (and annexes), debriefing meeting, ...) for these strategic coaching missions, which has been set within a range of 5 to 25 working days. The daily remuneration has been fixed at a flat rate of EUR 1,200 excluding VAT. The rhythm and modalities of the different sessions will be agreed with the beneficiary business.

The cost of the support (consultant's fees) is thus estimated between a minimum of EUR 6,000 excluding VAT and a maximum of EUR 30,000 excluding VAT, depending on the number of working days provided by the consultant who has been retained to carry out the analysis.

Thus, 50 % of the consultant's fees referred to above are paid by the Ministry of the Economy, either by the General Directorate for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, or by the General Directorate - Research, Intellectual Property and New technology, depending on the business's sector of activity.

Upon receipt by the Ministry of the Economy of the application signed by the business, the subsidy corresponding to 50 % of the consultancy fees will be paid to the business at the start of the project.

Sanctions

In order to take advantage of any misuse of funds, a repayment clause is included in the document from the Ministry of the Economy.

The proper use of the funds will be checked on the basis of the deliverables obtained and the supporting documents for the expenditure (invoices and proof of payment).

Consultants' obligations

At the end of his mission, within 7 days following the last coaching session, the consultant provides the beneficiary business and Luxinnovation with a report including the following elements:

• executive summary;
• diagnosis of the impact of the crisis on the business:
  • external analysis: market (including a section on the circular economy), competition, customer profile, distribution or supply channels, etc.;
  • internal analysis: organisation, functioning (including a section on digital maturity);
• short and medium-term action plan and road map.

It is important to stress that the consultant is asked to put each recommendation in perspective with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

In addition, the consultant must organise a feedback meeting to which Luxinnovation is invited. Within 7 days after the feedback meeting, the consultant submits the final report including the comments made by the parties during the feedback meeting.

At the end of this exercise, Luxinnovation takes over to provide assistance adapted to the needs of the business (possible orientation towards other state aid schemes, search for financing, ...).

Obligations of the beneficiary businesses

Within 3 months following the end of the mission, Luxinnovation will provide the beneficiaries with an evaluation questionnaire in order to assess the opportunity and quality of the support, the implementation of the proposed measures and their impact on the business's activities.

The beneficiaries undertake to provide Luxinnovation with all relevant information and figures within the framework of this questionnaire.

The beneficiaries also undertake to:

• pay the consultant's fees in full, i.e. a maximum of EUR 30,000 excluding VAT, in accordance with the terms and conditions agreed with the consultant beforehand;
• provide the Ministry of the Economy with all the supporting documents required to enable it to grant the
  50 % aid.

Forms / Online services

Who to contact