Company Requirements
To be able to apply for this financing line, your company must meet the following requirements
- Be a legal entity: an SME or small mid-cap focused on innovation and digitalisation, especially R&D&I-intensive ones. The ICF also accepts self-employed workers, but Kleo only handles legal entities.
- Have a registered or operating office in Catalonia.
- Meet at least one of the following innovation or digitalisation criteria.
Innovation criteria (one is enough):
- Investments in the production, development or application of new or substantially improved products, processes or services; that implement new or improved production or delivery methods; that involve an organisational or process innovation with technological, industrial or commercial risk (endorsed by an external expert); or that finance intangible assets (such as intellectual property), especially if they are not given collateral value.
- Be a fast-growing company: less than 10 years of activity since its first sale and growth of >20% per year in headcount or turnover over 3 consecutive years, with at least 10 employees at the start of the period.
- Have high innovation potential or be R&D&I-intensive, meeting at least one of these conditions:
- Annual R&D&I expenditure ≥20% of the operation amount, declaring that it will increase it to at least that amount.
- Commitment to allocate ≥80% of the amount to R&D&I activities.
- Having received grants, loans or guarantees from European R&D&I programmes in the last 36 months (without overlapping costs).
- Having won R&D&I awards from EU institutions or bodies in the last 36 months.
- Having registered technology rights (patents, utility models, etc.) in the last 36 months, with the operation serving to exploit them.
- Having received venture capital or business angel investment (individually or as a partner) in the last 36 months.
- Needing an investment above 50% of its average annual turnover over the last 5 years to enter a new market or product.
- R&D&I expenditure ≥10% of total operating costs in one of the last three years.
- Being a Small Mid-Cap with R&D&I expenditure of at least 15% of operating costs in one of the last three years, or at least 10% per year in each of the last three years.
- Having incurred R&D&I expenditure in the last 36 months recognised under general support measures approved by the European Commission. The operation must cover incremental costs and must not duplicate costs already financed.
- Having been designated as an innovative company by an EU institution, with the operation serving to maintain or develop the activity.
Digitalisation criteria (the financing must be used for at least one of these purposes):
- New business models based on digital technologies, such as servitisation.
- Supply-chain digitalisation: inventory management, monitoring, interaction with suppliers, etc.
- Product or service innovation through the integration of digital technologies, including the climate transition.
- Customer relations through digital technologies.
- Expansion into new markets through the adoption of digital technologies.
- Cybersecurity and data protection.
- Improvement of internal processes with advanced technologies (AI, blockchain, drones, biotechnology, etc.).
- Digital training and upskilling of existing staff and hiring of new digital profiles.
- Support for service providers that facilitate the digitalisation of value chains.
