After distributing 95 million euros in aid in the previous year, this year 2023 comes with 90 million euros to be distributed among the Basque business fabric under the umbrella of the Hazitek 2023 call for proposals, aimed at research and development in Basque companies.
For yet another year, the Basque Government has published the annual Hazitek call for proposals with the idea of strengthening Basque industry as a whole by generating a significant economic impact and return, boosting the competitiveness of Basque companies.
Following the dynamics of previous calls, this year the awarding of grants is also divided into two phases. Phase I, which closes on 16 March 2023, seeks to identify the most relevant technical proposals through the technical and economic description of the project to be carried out.
The projects that wish to apply for this call must be competitive research and development projects, or industrial research and experimental development projects in strategic sectors. And in all cases, the tractor effect on other economic activities in the Basque Country will be decisive, favouring the intervention of SMEs and access to the Horizon Europe Programme, as well as being aligned with the Basque Government’s PCTI 2030 plan.
This category includes projects with the potential to add new useful knowledge to obtain new or better products, processes or services, as well as to integrate new technologies of a strategic nature, create new patents and science and technology-based companies. Their development is intended to create new jobs and improve business competitiveness.
Projects of a strategic nature must be carried out in cooperation between at least 3 companies and, in addition, the collaboration of at least one agent of the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network (RVCTI) as a subcontractor, with a minimum participation of 20%.These projects have a minimum total budget of 4 million euros and are supported by a grant, depending on the qualification of the project, of a maximum of up to 50% of the bankable budget. Last year these projects accounted for 52.6% of the budget, spread over 32 different projects, giving an average funding per project of ¤1,562,500.
The projects included in this typology are aimed at the development of new products (original and superior products to those already existing) and the launch of new science and technology-based companies. These projects may be carried out individually or in cooperation between two or more companies.
In terms of budget, a minimum annual budget of €100,000 is defined (€50,000 minimum annual budget in the case of cooperative projects per company or partner). In addition, they are supported by a grant of up to 40% of the eligible budget (maximum €250,000 per company per year).
Last year, these projects accounted for 47.4% of the budget, distributed among 762 different projects, which means that, on average, each competitive project was funded with 59,055.11 euros:
1. Restructure the project and think about what and how you want to realise it. As a reference, last year:
a. The most funded competitive projects were Advanced Materials (53.9% of last year’s projects belonged to that category) or AI, Big Data and Data Science (with 47.24% of 2022 projects).
b. The strategic projects with the highest funding in the same year also belonged to these two categories.
2. If the project is going to be carried out collaboratively, then partners should be sought with whom to maximise the investment to be made.
3. Next, the application memorandum must be drafted. In this case, it must be done telematically at the SPRI headquarters.
4. Finally, the project must be uploaded to the SPRI electronic headquarters before 16 March.
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