Beneficiary companies can access grants to carry out R&D activities in industrial research or experimental development projects that result in a doctoral thesis on topics of interest and relevance to the entity and that are part of a line of research developed by the entity.

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Total budget of the call

8 M€

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Beneficiaries of the 2024 call for Industrial Doctorates

Companies and those private non-profit entities and public administrations, which in their statutes or in the regulations that regulate them or in their corporate purpose do not have R+D+i among their purposes or as an activity to be carried out.

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Type of help

Industrial Doctorate Grants 2024 are awarded on a competitive basis.

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The grants will last four years. The amount of the aid will be paid annually in advance. The payment of the aid corresponding to the second year will be processed at the end of the previous year. And, the aid payments corresponding to the third and fourth annuity will be processed at the end of the previous year and will also be conditioned on the prior presentation of the economic justification for the first and second annuity, respectively.

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Main requirements of the 2024 Industrial Doctorates call

Companies must:

• Have a tax residence or a permanent establishment in Spain and the capacity to hire a job.

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The people hired must:

• Be able to be enrolled or admitted to a doctoral program at a Spanish university, for the 2025/2026 academic year, at the time of formalizing the contract.
• Not having been employed by the entity with which you are applying for assistance. In the case of “Spin-off” companies and JEIs, this requirement will not apply if the employment relationship has been maintained with a non-profit public or private R&D institution that participates in the shareholding or capital of the new company.
• Do not have a share in the capital of the entity that requests the aid or of another shareholder or socially related entity.
• Not be included as a candidate in the application of more than one entity.
• Not having received aid, for a period longer than 12 months, within the framework of any of the State or National Plans for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation.

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On the other hand:

• The obtaining of the doctorate degree will take place, preferably, during the first three years of the grant.
• After obtaining the doctorate degree, the person will carry out research activities within the industrial research or experimental development project proposed by the entity that allow them to develop a period of postdoctoral improvement.
• The start date of the project or action must be after the registration or submission of the application: starting March 7, 2025.
• The description of the project and of the activities and tasks to be carried out by the proposed person must include the four expected years of the aid.
• Beneficiary entities will have a period of 20 working days from the day following the publication of the concession resolution to submit, to the granting body, the employment contracts formalized with the selected persons. The actual hiring must, in any case, be made on a date equal to or after June 5, 2024.
• Small and medium-sized enterprises and private non-profit entities and public administrations may submit a maximum of one application. Large companies may submit a maximum of two applications, each corresponding to a clearly different project.
• Aid must have an incentive effect.

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Fundable concepts

Direct project execution costs, including:

• Hiring expenses for the selected person (gross remuneration together with the Social Security contribution requested by the entity for the candidate), with a maximum limit of 32,8,000€ per year.
• Mobility expenses (up to 5,500€ for each person hired, to finance one or more stays, which include expenses derived from accommodation and food, and expenses derived from transportation).
• Other project implementation costs (with a maximum of €40,000 for other execution costs, depending on the requested budget and aid intensity).

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The above concepts will have a maximum eligible intensity following the following scheme:

• Help to finance the tuition fees for doctorate courses, applying an aid intensity of 100% (with a maximum of 1,500€ for academic tutoring expenses and training credits at a Spanish university, public or private).

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In the case of public administrations and private non-profit entities, the maximum intensity will be the same as that of large companies. Except in the case where non-economic activities are financed exclusively, in which case an aid intensity of 100% will be allocated.

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The distribution of the payment of grants to finance mobility expenses, other project expenses and registration costs will be determined in the concession resolution and will be paid together with the corresponding contract annuities.

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Criteria for evaluating applications

• Academic and/or scientific-technical trajectory of the candidate. 0/15
• Adaptation of the candidate to the research activities to be carried out. 0/15
• Training Plan. 0/20
• Quality and scientific-technological viability of the proposed activity. 0/30
• Impact and incentive effect on the R&D activity of the applicant entity. 0/20

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Required Documentation

• Request instance.
• Curriculum Vitae of the proposed person, in Spanish or English.
• Scientific-technical report of the R&D project in which the proposed person will participate as well as of the associated doctoral thesis project.
• Abbreviated Curriculum Vitae (CVA) of the person responsible for the execution of the project in the entity.
• In the case of newly created companies (year 2022 or later), the business plan, using the model listed on the agency's website.
• In the case of companies that have no obligation to register their accounts in the Mercantile Registry, or do not have any of the accounts corresponding to the years 2022 and 2023 registered in the Mercantile Registry, they must submit the closed and audited accounts (or approved, if appropriate, by the entity's administrators) for those years. In the case of companies that have the accounts for these years (2022 and 2023) registered in the Mercantile Registry, they will not have to provide any information.

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Deadline for submitting applications for Industrial Doctorates 2024

From January 21 to March 6, 2025 at 2:00 p.m.