The Center for Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI) of the Ministry of Science and Innovation offers several partially reimbursable grants and grants that can be very interesting to SMEs that have research, development and technological innovation projects.
Among them, several aids can be highlighted:
PID CDTI
The beneficiaries of this aid are companies that have launched R&D projects and that are aimed at the “significant improvement of production processes, products or services”. There are no restrictions on the sector or technology to be developed, but the expenses must derive from the R & D activity that would be supported.
To access the program PID CDTI the startup or company must contribute, at least, 15% of the budget through its own resources. The total budget must be at least 175,000 euros for all projects, with the exception of ONE HUNDRED, which should exceed 5 million euros.
In addition, projects should have a general duration of 12 to 36 months. In the case of national technology cooperation, they may last 12 to 48 months and those of CIEN must cover 36 to 48 months. Your return must be given within 7 to 10 years with a grace period of between 2 and 3 years.
LIC (Innovation Line)
They are given to support projects with medium/low technological risk and short periods of return on investment that improve the competitiveness of a company through the incorporation of emerging technologies in the sector.
Projects must have a minimum eligible budget of 175,000 euros and a duration of between 6 and 18 months.
The aid amounts to up to 75% of the approved budget and up to 85% if it is co-financed by the ERDF. The company must provide at least 15% of the budget with its own or third-party funds. The interest rate varies depending on the repayment period chosen, 3 or 5 years. As for the grace period, it is 1 year from the end of the project.
Cervera
This line has as its beneficiaries individual projects that have been developed by companies that collaborate with State-wide Technology Centers on priority technologies Cervera.
That is, in areas such as eco-innovation, energy transition, advanced materials, intelligent manufacturing, intelligent transport, cybersecurity and deep learning or artificial intelligence. The projects, however, must demonstrate a technological aspect that is different from the technologies that already exist in the market.
This is partially reimbursable aid with coverage of up to 85% of the total budget. This is a current loan with a non-refundable tranche (TNR), this tranche is comparable to a non-refundable grant. Projects must have a participation of at least 10% of the approved project by one or more technology centers.
More advantages in 2020: the exemption from guarantees
Why can the PID, Cervera and LIC lines be a good way to finance your technological innovation and R&D projects? If these lines were already quite attractive to small and medium-sized companies, during the current financial year they are even more so, since due to the situation caused by the coronavirus, the guarantees requested have been reduced to 0%.
Thus, those R+D+i projects carried out by SMEs that are approved since March 14 of this year would be exempt from providing guarantees.
In addition, if the R+D+i activity is part of products that are considered emergency, the reduction of guarantees would extend to 1 million euros in the case of small companies, 2 million euros in the case of medium-sized companies and 6 million euros for mid-cap companies.
The exceptional measures are scheduled until December 31 and cannot be applied retroactively. In order to benefit from them, it is a sine qua non condition that companies meet the minimum economic solvency required by the CDTI.
