Brussels, 19/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Commission in charge of Competition, Neelie Kroes, is to present a communication to the College of Commissioners on Wednesday, on a framework for State aid to innovation, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday. In line with an action plan adopted in June (EUROPE 8963 and 8916), this text provides for additional possibilities to grant aid to develop innovation in the joint interests of the EU. In order to offset market shortcomings, aid in this strategic field can be planned, as long as it represents an appropriate means which is proportionate and has a beneficial effect on innovation, without bringing about competition distortion.
The guidelines proposed will be subject to a consultation, and should lead to a more detailed proposal during the first half of 2006. According to a source close to the dossier, the Commission hopes: a) to authorise aid aiming to promote the creation and development of innovative start-ups, via subsidies or tax breaks up to a total of one million EUR over three years; b) to bring in more flexibility into the State aid regime for venture capital; c) to extend the scope of current rules to research and development; d) to provide incentives for businesses to use service providers such as consultants, legal experts, etc, in order to encourage their efforts at innovation, by such possible measures as innovation cheques for 200,000 EUR; e) to allow SMEs to recruit highly-qualified researchers and engineers and to benefit from exchanges between universities or businesses; f) to create "poles of excellence", in order to federate competencies in research centres of sufficient critical dimension.