Goals
- To increase the country's corporate TR&D efforts
- To create new knowledge in order to make companies more competitive
- To promote companies' inclusion in international knowledge networks to stimulate the creation and endogenisation of new knowledge, bringing new economic opportunities
- To foster cooperation and TR&D projects between STS companies and organisations
- To stimulate the demonstration, technological experimentation, dissemination and transfer of technology to the business sector
Beneficiaries
- Companies
- Organisations in the STS (science and technology system)
- Business associations (for joint TR&D projects)
Sectors
1. In general terms the following economic classifications are eligible, according to the Portuguese Classification of Economic Activities (CAE), Revision 3, approved by Decree-Law 381/2007 of 14 November:
- Industry: divisions 05 to 33
- Commerce: divisions 45 to 47 (only for SMEs)
- Services: divisions 37 to 39, 58, 59, 62, 63, 69, 70 to 74, 77 excluding Group 771 and Subclass 77210, 78, 80 to 82, 90 excluding Subclass 90040, 91 excluding Subclasses 91041 and 91042 and 95; Groups 016, 022, 024 and 799; Subclass 64202
- Tourism: division 55 Groups 561, 563, 771 and 791; activities declared of interest to tourism in Subclasses 77210, 90040, 91041, 91042, 93110, 93192, 93210, 93292, 93293, 93294 and 96040
- Energy: division 35 (generation only)
- Transport and logistics: Groups 493, 494 and division 52
- Construction: Group 412 and divisions 42 and 43
2. Exceptionally, in duly justified cases, the board may consider supporting investment projects in other sectors.
3. Within the scope of projects included in collective efficiency strategies, other sectors may also be considered, as established in their own specific regulations.
4. Support for projects belonging to sectors subject to specific EU restrictions on state aid must abide by the applicable community regulations.
Types of project
TR&D companies - projects involving industrial research and/or experimental development leading to the invention of new products, processes or systems or significant improvements to existing products, processes or systems, as follows:
- Individual projects - undertaken by one company
- Joint projects - undertaken in a partnership between companies or between them and STS organisations, which, as a result of complementary competences or common interests in making use of results of TR&D activities, get together to boost synergies or share costs and risks, this partnership being subject to a consortium contract and coordinated by one company
- Mobilising projects - mobilising scientific and technological capacities with high technological and innovative content and significant impacts at multi-sectoral or regional level or on clusters, competitiveness and technology centres or in the consolidation of value chains in certain sectors and the introduction of new competences in strategic areas of knowledge, with a view to the effective transfer of knowledge and the use of results of TR&D in companies, jointly promoted by companies and STS organisations
- TR&D voucher – projects undertaken exclusively by SMEs to acquire TR&D services from qualified STS organisations
Collective TR&D
- Collective TR&D - projects undertaken by business associations resulting from the identification of problems and TR&D needs shared by a large number of companies, in a certain sector, cluster, competitiveness and technology centre or region, in which the results are widely disseminated to the companies in question
The target companies are represented in a steering committee consisting of at least five companies. Through articulated intervention, they collaborate with the promoting association in characterising the problem, identifying needs, monitoring the project and validating the results.
TR&D activities are contracted from STS organisations and/or companies with the necessary technological capacity in calls for tenders. The business association must ensure wide dissemination of the results achieved so that they are endogenised and used by the target companies.
Capacity-building and reinforcement of in-house TR&D competences
- TR&D units - projects undertaken by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) aimed at sustainably developing in-house TR&D and innovation management competences in the company by setting up permanent structured units devoted exclusively to TR&D
- TR&D centres - set up by companies that already undertake ongoing, structured TR&D activities in order increase their TR&D efforts beyond their normal everyday lines of research
Enhancement of TR&D
- Demonstrative projects - undertaken by companies that are based on successfully completed R&D and are aimed at the technological demonstration and dissemination of new technologies in the form of new, innovative products, processes or services in order to show a specialised audience the economic and technical advantages of the new solutions that they wish to disseminate, in real situations
Applications
1. Applications to the SI TR&D (with the exception of special scheme projects) are submitted in response to calls for applications. The announcements are drafted and circulated by the boards on their websites.
2. An annual schedule for calls for tenders is drafted annually and approved by joint ordinance of the coordinating ministers of the ministerial coordination committees of the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme and regional operational programmes.
3. In the case of mobilising and collective TR&D projects, submission of applications may be preceded by a pre-qualification phase, as defined in the announcements of the call for applications.
4. Applications are sent on online forms available on the COMPETE website.