The general ICON conditions apply to all ICON programmes. Additional or specific conditions may apply for specific programmes or specific calls in these programmes.

General ICON conditions

Every ICON project consists of two components: a research component and a company component.

The research component involves strategic basic research carried out by research organisations receiving non-economic aid under the SBO (key strategic research programmes) framework by VLAIO (SPC-ICON and THEM-ICON projects), or subject to similar conditions by the relevant strategic research centre (SOC-ICON). The research component is therefore roughly comparable to an SBO project.

The company component involves industrial research carried out by companies. It is funded as state aid under the framework for cooperative business projects and roughly corresponds to an industrial research project.

Both parts contribute to a shared broader project objective and are executed in close coordination.

The conditions applicable to ICON projects follow the SBO projects conditions for the research component and industrial research projects for the company component as much as possible, while introducing additional requirements that in particular reflect the integrated nature of ICON projects.

Further details are provided in the ICON manual.

Cash flow plan

Companies meeting one of the following criteria are required to submit a cash flow plan with their application:

• your company is an SME that was founded less than 3 years before the time of submission

The cash flow plan must demonstrate the financial impact of the VLAIO project at company level and must be prepared using the mandatory monthly cash flow template.

All other companies are not required to submit a cash flow plan with their application. VLAIO may request a cash flow plan at a later stage of the application process if needed for the accurate assessment of the company's co-funding capacity.