Public Call for awarding funds through Innovation Vouchers

The purpose of the Innovation Vouchers is to encourage cooperation between companies and academic and scientific and research institutions in order to implement innovation activities, which will increase the companies’ competitiveness.

 The development of new products, processes and services is directly related to the innovation process. The Innovation vouchers provide a direct financial incentive that companies use to cover part of the costs of services offered by academic and scientific and research institutions, which intensifies the scope and dynamics of product and service development and their placement on the market.

The total budget for awarding funds through Innovation vouchers for this public call is 15,000,000 mkd..

Innovation vouchers can be used to cover up to 80% (eighty percent) of the total costs of scientific and research services, in a maximum amount of 500,000 (five hundred thousand) denars (MKD), without value added tax (VAT). The companies have an obligation to co-finance the remaining amount of the total cost of the services.

Under this measure, the applicant company may receive a maximum of 2 (two) Innovation Vouchers in a maximum amount of 1,000,000 (one million) denars within 5 (five) calendar years, whereby both Innovation Vouchers cannot be granted within the same public call. 

The amount of funds granted through the Innovation Vouchers must not contradict or violate the rules for granting state aid of minor importance (de minimis – defined in the Regulation on the conditions and procedure for granting aid of minor importance).

The eligibility criteria that the applicant should meet are:

• to be a trade company established in accordance with the Law on Trade Companies and registered in the Central Registry of the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Law on Trade Companies;
• be a micro, small or medium enterprise;
• to be in the majority Macedonian ownership (50.1% or more);
• not to be related to another enterprise where the cumulative annual income exceeds 10,000,000 (ten million) Euros in the previous two fiscal years and the aggregate number of employees exceeds 250;
• there should be no bankruptcy or litigation proceedings initiated against it;
• it should have all due liabilities on the basis of public duties and contributions settled;
• there should be no proceedings for forcible enforcement of overdue monetary claims initiated against it;
• да нема акумулирано повеќе од 200.000 (двеста илјади) евра помош од мало значење за период од три фискални години, вклучувајќи го и побараниот износ на средства од Фондот согласно Законот за контрола на државна помош и Уредбата за условите и постапката за доделување на помош од мало значење (de minimis);
• not to have accumulated more than 100,000 (one hundred thousand) Euros of minor importance for a period of three fiscal years, including the requested amount of funds from the Fund, if the company is active in the road traffic sector, in accordance with the Law on State Aid Control and the Regulation on the conditions and procedure for granting aid of minor importance (de minimis);
• not to be in difficulty (a company in difficulty is an enterprise that is unable to meet its obligations from its own resources or funds that it can obtain from its owner / shareholders or creditors, to stop losses that without external intervention by the aid providers will certainly lead to short-term and long-term cessation of operation of the enterprise).

When granting Innovation Vouchers, priority is not given to the level of innovation of the applicant companies or to a specific industrial sector, unless otherwise specified in the public call.

Eligible for financing are activities in all activities except:

• production, trade or service activities that are not in accordance with the law;
• tobacco production and trade, distilled alcoholic beverages and related products (beverages containing alcohol, but not obtained exclusively by distillation, but for their production can also be used naturally distilled alcohol (obtained from different but natural origin) may also be used for their production by the administration of various plant or other products or by maceration, coupage (blendng), flavoring, coloring, dyeing, etc., creating different alcoholic beverages in which the ethyl alcohol content is usually higher than 15%, and which may include different types of liqueurs and cocktails, etc.);
• production and trade in weapons and ammunition of any kind;
• casinos and other legal entities for organizing games of chance and other fun games;
• research, development or technical requirements relating to electronic data, programs or solutions relating to:
  1.поддршка на која било активност која се вбројува во горенаведените сектори од алинеите 2,3 и 4 на овој член;
  2. online gambling and online casinos and / or
  3. pornography;
• natural – scientific research, development or technical applications related to human cloning for research or therapeutic purposes; and / or for genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
• coal production.

Entities eligible to be service providers are: public universities in their science-oriented units (scientific institutes) and in science-oriented education units (faculties); Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts; independent public higher education institutions; private-public non-profit higher education institutions, public scientific institutions and mixed scientific institutions established in accordance with the Law on Higher Education, the Law on Scientific Research, the Law on the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts as well as companies registered in the Central Registry of the Republic of North Macedonia as companies that are predominantly owned by public higher education institutions (50.1% or more).

Innovation vouchers can be used to transfer scientific, technological or innovative knowledge that is new to the company or to solve a technical / technological problem that will be identified by the company.

Funds can be obtained for the following services:

• Development of new or improvement (in terms of function and quality) of existing products, processes or services;
• Proof of concept;
• Feasibility study;
• Technical specification;
• Production of laboratory prototypes;
• Manufacturing demonstrational prototypes;
• Different types of tests (in laboratory, production plant);
• Validation of technology;
• Validation of new or improved products, processes or services;
• Advisory business services related to innovation activity (innovation cycle management, intellectual property rights, etc.). For these needs, up to 50% of the voucher value can be used;
• Development and introduction of special software for a product or process (within the product development);
• Specific trainings related to the development of technological solutions. For these needs, up to 20% of the voucher value can be used.

Costs ineligible for financing under the Innovation Vouchers are:

• Repayment of interest or debt of another party;
• Costs and commissions for past or possible future losses or debts;
• Coverage of losses due to currency exchange, fees and penalties;
• Expenses for entertainment and catering;
• Staff recruitment costs (costs for publishing an advertisement, commissions from employment agencies, costs related to selection of candidates, etc.) and migration costs;
• Purchase of land or buildings, including renovation;
• Export activities (costs directly related to the export of products, by establishing and operation of a distribution network, etc. or for other current costs of the applicant related to export activities);
• Annual patent maintenance fees (with the exception of well-justified cases assessed as an allowable cost when evaluating the project proposals);
• Costs for consulting services provided by the owner / s of the beneficiary company;
• Rental of business premises;
• Costs for procurement of equipment.

VAT is a cost that is not eligible for financing and it is not calculated in the total amount of Article 3 of this Rulebook The beneficiary company should additionally cover the cost of VAT if applicable and for the same cost can get a refund in accordance with applicable law.

In addition, the costs of carrying out activities that were previously funded by other sources are not eligible for funding.

Costs ineligible for financing under the Innovation Vouchers are:

• Repayment of interest or debt of another party;
• Costs and commissions for past or possible future losses or debts;
• Coverage of losses due to currency exchange, fees and penalties;
• Expenses for entertainment and catering;
• Staff recruitment costs (costs for publishing an advertisement, commissions from employment agencies, costs related to selection of candidates, etc.) and migration costs;
• Purchase of land or buildings, including renovation;
• Export activities (costs directly related to the export of products, by establishing and operation of a distribution network, etc. or for other current costs of the applicant related to export activities);
• Annual patent maintenance fees (with the exception of well-justified cases assessed as an allowable cost when evaluating the project proposals);
• Costs for consulting services provided by the owner / s of the beneficiary company;
• Rental of business premises;
• Costs for procurement of equipment.

VAT is a cost that is not eligible for financing and it is not calculated in the total amount of Article 3 of this Rulebook The beneficiary company should additionally cover the cost of VAT if applicable and for the same cost can get a refund in accordance with applicable law.

In addition, the costs of carrying out activities that were previously funded by other sources are not eligible for funding.

To apply for funds awarded through the Innovation Voucher, the applicant company must submit:

• Innovation voucher application, completed, signed and printed in a form determined by the Fund, scanned in PDF format;
• Current status for the company – applicant issued by the Central Registry of the Republic of North Macedonia not older than 6 (six) months from the deadline for submission of the application stated in the public call; and
• Financial offer/s from the service provider/s, signed, printed and scanned in PDF format which must contain:
  1. Specification of the service according to the need stated in the Innovation Voucher Application;
  2. Name of the service provider/s and contact person responsible for the requested service;
  3. Financial offer for services with value added tax (VAT) expressed as a separate cost, if applicable;
  4. Deadline for completion of the requested service;
  5. Validity of the offer (minimum 60 days).

In one Application, the applicant company can include a maximum of three service providers.

Under this measure, the applicant company may receive a maximum of 2 (two) Innovation Vouchers in a maximum amount of 1,000,000 (one million) denars within 5 (five) calendar years, whereby both Innovation Vouchers cannot be granted within the same public call. 

In order to apply for funds awarded through the Innovation Voucher, the applicant company must submit the submitted documents through the application form.

Only those applications submitted in the above manner will be considered for funding.

The deadline for application after the announced public call will last until the funds from the budget determined by the public call are exhausted.

Awarding funds through Innovation Vouchers is made according to the order of arrival of the applications, i.e. completion of the applications, starting from the date of announcement of the public call, i.e. until the funds from the budget of the call determined by the public call are spent, according to the principle “first come”, first served “.

            The closing of the application deadline will be announced publicly on the website of the Fund on the day the Decision for financing is made.

After the approval of the Notification for realization of Innovation Voucher by the Commission, the Fund makes a payment in the amount in accordance with Article 3 of this Rulebook and in accordance with the signed Agreement for awarding funds between the Fund and the beneficiary company, directly to the bank account of the service provider/s.

The beneficiary company is obliged to pay the remaining amount of the service costs, including the total amount of VAT on the bank account of the service provider/s.

The beneficiary company is obliged to submit to the Fund a proof of the paid remaining amount to the service provider in a form of a bank statement.

For all additional information you can:

• contact us on the e-mail address inovaciski_vaucheri@fitr.mk
• call us on the telephone number 389 (0) 23145258.
• for more information follow us on the page of FITR fitr.mk