Grants for investments in SME production processes - ERDF Notice No. 1/2022

This is a non-repayable grant under the new ERDF Programme 2021-2027, aimed at supporting the revitalisation of the investment propensity of companies that are already structured and operating in the market. The objective is to finance tangible and intangible productive investments and consultancy expenses, improving the business processes of enterprises and strengthening their competitiveness.

Eligible initiatives

To access the grant, the enterprise must present a project and the relevant expenses to be incurred. The project to be presented must consist of

• in the transformation of an existing production process
• and/or in theintroduction of a new production process inaddition to the company's existing production processes.

The investment for which aid is granted must be made and located in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Trento and the project must be completed within 18 months from the date of notification of the decision to grant the aid by the examining body.

Check points 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the Notice for evaluation criteria, grant/disbursement procedures and project timelines.

Eligible Expenses

Eligible expenses include tangible and intangible investments as well as consultancy costs. For more information on eligible expenses (VAT excluded) go to Annex 1 of the Notice.

Total eligible expenses must exceed 200,000 euro and be within the maximum limit of 2,500,000 euro.

Contribution measure

The contribution that the company can obtain is determined on the basis of the cost of the project, the aid scheme chosen(de minimis or exemption scheme) and with reference to the expenditure considered eligible. For more information on the contribution measure go to point 4 of the Notice.

As of 7 February 2024, the de minimis contribution is granted under the new Regulation 2023/2831. Until 30 June 2024, the contribution may be granted under the old Regulation 1407/2014 as amended only if it is more favourable to the applicant in terms of aid ceiling.

In return for the grant received, the company must also comply with a number of obligations, including

• to implement the approved project, respecting its start-up, completion and reporting deadlines;
• not to dispose of, transfer or otherwise divert from their intended use the assets for which the grant was awarded in the five years following the date of final payment of the grant to the beneficiary;

Further constraints are set out in Annexes 5 and 6 of the Notice, which refer to further obligations of the beneficiaries, as well as to information, monitoring and publicity obligations related to the financed interventions.

At the following link you can find a summary of the main communication obligations incumbent on the beneficiaries of the notices of the ERDF Programme 2021-2027.

Small and medium-sized enterprises that fall into one of the following situations

• being registered in the Register of Enterprises of the Province of Trento, with registered office and operational headquarters in the territory of the Province of Trento or with an active operational unit (indicated as a local unit in the Chamber of Commerce certificate) in the provincial territory
• having their registered office and operational headquarters outside the territory of the Autonomous Province of Trento, but with an active operational unit in the province before the grant is awarded

Access Requirements

To be eligible for the grant, the enterprise must

• have been established for at least three years on the date of submission of the grant application (the date of establishment refers to the date of registration in the Register of Enterprises at the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Handicrafts and Agriculture competent for the territory)
• carry out an activity falling under one of the ATECO codes indicated in Annex 8:
  ALLEGATO+8+%E2%80%93+TABELLA+A+%E2%80%93+Elenco+codici+ATECO+2007.pdf 337.98 kB
• have undergone, prior to submitting the application for a grant, an assessment carried out by an assessor accredited by Trentino Sviluppo following participation in thePublic Notice for the "formation of a list of assessors set up by Trentino Sviluppo S.p.A. to carry out company assessments preparatory to participation in the facilitation procedures provided for under the ERDF 2021-2027 Programme of the Autonomous Province of Trento".
• not to be in a state of bankruptcy, liquidation (including voluntary liquidation), receivership, composition with creditors or in any other equivalent situation under current regulations
• not be undergoing bankruptcy proceedings
• not be a firm in difficulty within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 651/2014 except where authorised under de minimis aid or temporary state aid rules to address exceptional circumstances
• have ordinary bookkeeping

Evaluation Criteria

Grant applications will be assessed through an over-the-counter evaluation procedure.

The criteria used to verify eligibility for the contribution are: general formal eligibility criteria, general substantive eligibility criteria, evaluation criteria and award criteria. Check them under point 6 of theNotice.

The person in charge of the preliminary examination procedures is the examining body: Trentino Sviluppo SpA.

Application submission and deadlines

The application can be submitted, also by proxy,from 15:00 on 16 May 2022 by connecting to the portal accessible below.

All operational instructions for the submission of the application are available in this manual:

User Manual for the submission of grant applications on the SIFESR web portal.

To submit the application, you must have the SPID digital identity system.

PLATFORM TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

Any technical problems related to the use of the platform must be reported by email by writing to assistenzafesrtn@performer.it, specifying name, company tax code, telephone contact and application identification code (if available).
Technical assistance is available from Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (excluding holidays).

• assessment report signed in original and scanned or digitally signed by an assessor accredited by Trentino Sviluppo (mandatory attachment)

Go to Annex 3 of the Notice for more information on the documentation to be submitted.

See the time schedule under point 9 of the notice.