Launch of Pilot SME R&D Subsidy Call
Attention biotech SMEs: 2023 starts with fantastic financing news! Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (Health~Holland) announces that the current public-private partnership scheme (PPP) will be better aligned with the needs of innovative SMEs. We will do this through a pilot call in 2023 with an available budget of €3.3 million, of which €2.4 million is intended for SMEs. The subsidy covers a maximum of 50% of the total costs of the SME up to an amount of €150,000 in PPP allowance per year. And the icing on the cake: the entrepreneur in the lead.
Shift from knowledge development to knowledge utilization
Within this new SME R&D call, SMEs can receive a subsidy under certain conditions for appointing one existing or new R&D employee on an industrial PPP project, giving them more more resources and manpower to further develop life sciences innovations and bring them closer to the patient.
New pilot subsidy call is better suited to SME needs
To this day, a large part of the PPP funds from the Top Sector Life Sciences & Health are awarded to knowledge institutions that mainly work on fundamental research in collaboration with large companies. The focus is therefore mainly on knowledge development and less on knowledge application. This will now change with the new pilot. The scheme directly meets the needs of SMEs and places them in the lead, which promotes the further development of new innovations.
Adjustment of the PPP allowance is a milestone
HollandBIO is very happy that Health~Holland sees the challenges for innovative SMEs surrounding the PPP scheme and comes up with a concrete solution. A step in the right direction, because this solution contributes to the right public and private financing mix for biotech companies. Perhaps after this step, we can take more steps to increase PPP resources that contribute to industrial research and meet the needs of SMEs? How would other top sectors, for example, view such a pilot? Food for thought – we certainly see the potential and would like to continue discussions with all top sectors!
Detailed information about this pilot subsidy can be found here.
