This aid scheme from the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade, which is part of a set of support measures, concerns 3 types of research and development (R&D):

• Experimental development: an activity aimed at developing new, modified or improved products, processes, services, methods or organisation models (including the creation of prototypes).
• Industrial research: research aimed at acquiring new, not yet commercially exploitable knowledge with the aim of allowing new products, processes, services, methods or organisation models to be created (possibly during a subsequent experimental development).
• Fundamental research: an activity aimed at broadening scientific and technical knowledge not associated with industrial or commercial objectives.

The main assessment criteria are the following:

• the innovative nature of the project
• technological risks proving the R&D nature of the project
• the economic potential (except for fundamental research)
• the enterprise’s financial capacity in relation to the size of the project

Beneficiaries

All enterprises and private research organisations established in Luxembourg are eligible.

Eligible costs

Eligible expenses include the following costs insofar as they are directly associated with the R&D project or programme:

• personnel expenses
• costs for the use of instruments, equipment, machines, tools, installations, land and buildings
• materials and other consumables 
• subcontracting expenses 
• overhead expenses 
• any other type of cost directly associated with the project

Forms of aid

The aid intensities, calculated on the basis of the eligible costs of the project or programme, cannot exceed the following limits:

1) Cf. Definition of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

2) Collaboration with at least one public research organisation in Luxembourg or one SME in Luxembourg or one enterprise located in another EU member state. Subcontracting is not considered to be effective collaboration.

3) Collaboration with at least one public research organisation in Luxembourg or one enterprise in Luxembourg or in another EU member state. Subcontracting is not considered to be effective collaboration.

4) Maximum aid intensity allowed for industrial research, including all bonuses.

Submitting an application

Aid applications and their appendixes should be submitted both:

• in electronic format (pdf and docx or doc, rtf, odt) to the following e-mail address: loi.rdi@eco.etat.lu. The mail subject must include the name of the company and the name of the project
• and in paper format to the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade, Directorate of Research and Innovation, L-2914 Luxembourg

Aid applications must be submitted before the RDI investments are made or before the relevant connected activities are launched. Before submitting your application, consult the guidelines for the submission of aid applications.