On Wednesday, 23 November, the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR) will announce the ninth public tender for the support of industrial research and experimental development in the TREND programme, subprogramme 2 – Nováčci (“Entrants”). The aim of the programme is to support the start-up of own research and development activities of enterprises that have not yet implemented R&D activities on a regular basis and have not purchased these services from R&D organisations. A total of CZK 200 million will be distributed among the successful applicants.

The application for the subsidy from the programme may be submitted by the enterprises which, in the last 5 years, did not draw any public aid exceeding the total amount of CZK 1 million  for the support of research and development. The programme’s condition is the involvement of at least one R&D organisation that will cover at least 10% of the project’s costs.

A prerequisite for a successful project is achieving a certain type of result, e.g. a prototype, functional sample, software, industrial design or utility model etc.

What is eligible for subsidy

The main objective of the programme is to increase the international competitiveness of enterprises, i.e. expanding foreign markets, supporting penetration in new markets, shifting global value chains, and, at the same time, strengthening cooperation within the R&D, academic and private sector. Support will be provided to research and development projects aimed at putting the results into practice, especially in industrial production and the offer of products on the market, as well as projects developing new technologies and materials which are increasing the degree of automation, robotisation, and the use of digital technologies.

Eligible costs include:

• Personnel costs
• Subcontracting costs
• Other direct costs
• Indirect costs (20 % of the sum of the personnel and direct costs reported)

Who can apply for the subsidy:

• All enterprises, regardless of size (i.e. including large enterprises) and regardless of the project location (i.e. including Prague).
• The enterprise must always be the main applicant; other participants in the consortium may be either another enterprise or a research organisation.

Subsidy amount: The maximum subsidy amount per project is CZK 15 million.

Subsidy extent: The maximum subsidy extent per project is up to 80% of total eligible costs and depends on the size of the enterprise and the share of industrial research and experimental development activities within the project.

Applications open: From 24 November 2022 to 11 January 2023

The maximum duration of the project is 48 months and the latest end date of the project is 30 June 2027.