Annex 1: Subsidy Control
Updated 19 May 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-bilateral-fund/annex-1-subsidy-control
This award is being offered under the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme in accordance with section 10(4) of the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Projects funded as part of the International Bilateral Fund qualify as “industrial research” or “experimental development”, where:
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“Industrial research” means the planned research or critical investigation aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge and skills for developing new products, processes or services or for bringing about a significant improvement in existing products, processes or services
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“Experimental development” means acquiring, combining, shaping and using existing scientific, technological, business and other relevant knowledge and skills with the aim of developing new or improved products, processes or services
Subsidies given under these categories and subject to maximum award amounts and subsidy ratios set out in the Research, Development and Innovation Streamlined Subsidy Scheme. These are as follows:
| Industrial Research | Experimental Development | |
| Small Enterprises | 70% of the eligible project costs | 45% of the eligible project costs |
| Medium Enterprises | 60% of the eligible project costs | 35% of the eligible project costs |
| Large Enterprises | 50% of the eligible project costs | 25% of the eligible project costs |
Enterprises may receive a 15% uplift to the subsidy ratios where the project involves collaboration between enterprises, where as least one of the enterprises is an SME, or between an enterprise and one or more research and knowledge dissemination organisation, which must have the right to publish its own research results.
For the purposes of subsidy control, the following definitions are applicable:
- A small enterprise has an annual turnover below £10.2 million, a balance sheet total below £5.1 million and the average number of employees must not be more than 50
- A medium enterprise has an annual turnover below £36 million, a balance sheet total below £18 million and the average number of employees must be no more than 250
- A large enterprise has an annual turnover above £36 million, a balance sheet total above £18 million and the average number of employees is above 250
To qualify, two of the three conditions in the above definition must be met.
Applicants should note that the maximum award amount for both industrial research and experimental development projects is £3,000,000 per enterprise per project.