How much funding can I receive? 

The type of work is classed as either “Industrial Research” or “Experimental Development”. The definitions of these can be found below. Note, a project does not have to be exclusively one or the other - some elements of a project could be classified as “Industrial Research” while others could be classified as “Experimental Development”.

The base-line maximum aid intensities for companies, as a proportion of the project costs borne by that company, are as follows:

• 50% for companies carrying out Industrial Research
• 25% for companies carrying out Experimental Development

Additionally, the following uplifts to these base-line maxima may be applied:

• 20% for small companies
• 10% for medium-sized companies [EU definitions of SEs and MEs below]

A further 15% (up to a maximum of 80%) for any type of company if the collaboration meets one of the following criteria:

• the project involves companies in two or more EU countries OR at least one SME, AND no single collaborator bears more than 70% of the project costs.
• the project involves collaboration between companies and one or more research organisations (such as universities) where the research organisation bears at least 10% of the eligible project costs and has the right to publish the results of research projects that stem from research implemented by that organisation.
• in the case that the company's contribution to the project qualifies as industrial research, the results of the project are widely disseminated through technical or scientific conferences, published in scientific or technical journals, open access databases or through free or open source software.

Research establishments (e.g. universities) can be funded at 100% of their project costs.

Where the project is collaborative and involves more than one beneficiary, the intensity of aid must also be established for each individual beneficiary.

In addition to the above, the Carbon Trust will only fund the overall costs of the project up to a maximum of 60% for Industrial Research and 40% for Experimental Development. Therefore, while individual members of the project team may be eligible for funding above these levels you must ensure that the overall project funding requested falls within these limits.

We require you to demonstrate that your project is eligible and complies with the above rules. The obligation to ensure compliance with EU State Aid legislation lies with the recipient of the grants.

Experimental Research or Development
The acquiring, combing, shaping and using of existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills for the purpose of producing plans and arrangements, or designs for new altered or improved products, processes or services. The development of commercially usable prototypes and pilot projects is also included where the prototype is necessarily the final commercial product and where it is too expensive to produce for it to be used for demonstration and validation purposes.
The experimental production and testing of products, processes and services are also eligible, provided that these cannot be used or transformed to be used in industrial applications or commercially. Experimental development does not include the routine or periodic changes made to products, production lines, manufacturing processes, existing services and other operations in progress, even if such changes may represent improvements.

Industrial Research
Planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or in bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services. It comprises the creation of components of complex systems, which is necessary for the industrial research, notably for generic technology validation, to the exclusion of prototypes as covered by the definition of ‘Experimental Research’.

Small & Medium Enterprises (SME)
The Carbon Trust has updated its definition of an SME to bring it in line with a new definition that the EU Commission adopted on 6 May 2003 and brought into use as of the 1st January 2005: To be recognised as either a small or medium sized enterprise, which must comply with:

• A small-enterprise is defined as an enterprise which employs fewer than 50 persons and whose annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 10 million (about £7 million).
• A medium-sized enterprise is defined as an enterprise which employs fewer than 250 persons and whose annual turnover does not exceed EUR 50 million (about £35 million) or whose annual balance-sheet total does not exceed EUR 43 million (about £23 million). The definition of an SME distinguishes three types of enterprise, according to their relationship with other enterprises in terms of holdings of capital or voting rights or the right to exercise a dominant influence.