Around 60 delegates from local enterprises had the opportunity to learn more about the assistance and funding opportunities provided by Malta Enterprise to facilitate projects in R&D and innovation during a seminar organised by the Corporation with the support of the Enterprise Europe Network.
The seminar highlighted the importance of R&D and innovation for any enterprise in its drive to maintain its competitiveness and long-term sustainability and sought to encourage the participants to embark on such projects.
Amongst others, the assistance includes co-financing of projects through the the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) schemes for R&D and innovation, through which almost 100 enterprises were granted around €8.5 million in previous calls. A further call for these schemes is open until April 3, 2012.
Additionally, the assistance also includes tax credits for the costs of work on R&D, assistance to loan qualified experts or to carry out feasibility studies, as well as the significant fiscal benefit through which income from royalties on patents may qualify for tax exemption.
Further support is provided through the business advisory service, whereby enterprises are assisted in activities not only directly related to R&D, but also in doing other work that is part of the whole process such as patent filing and licensing, market research, manufacturing start-up, tooling and redesign for the manufacturing process.
Moreover, Malta Enterprise has just been appointed as the National Contact Point for the European Commission’s Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP), which aims to encourage the competitiveness of European enterprises and particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.
The CIP contact point joins other offices already hosted by Malta Enterprise such as the Enterprise Europe Network and the EUREKA Network – which assist local companies to find foreign partners to work on cross-border projects with a focus on R&D and innovation – thus enabling Malta Enterprise to offer an even more comprehensive range of support, services and schemes to facilitate the successful operation and growth of local enterprises.
Further information on all the schemes provided by Malta Enterprise may be obtained by calling Business First on 144 or via email on [email protected].