Which of your project activities are eligible for funding?

All activities in which knowledge is developed or activities that directly support such knowledge development can be included in a research project. These can be either technological or non-technological in nature. 

Primarily applying or incrementally improving proprietary internal know-how is not enough. Compared to normal business activities and common innovation processes, the project must be clearly different in terms of method, content, intended results and/or risks for which knowledge must be developed. 

An overview of all research project activities within scope is set out in the Explanatory Document on Research & Development Projects and Feasibility Studies.

How is the grant amount determined?

The grant for a research project is determined on the basis of the project budget. This includes all costs necessary to carry out the project: 

• the personnel costs of the business partners (based on staffing and actual wage costs); 
• other costs of the business partners; 
• any outsourcing to research partners and subcontractors; 
• any exceptionally high investment costs. 

You submit the project budget in the form of a spreadsheet prepared by the VLAIO agency. Please find further explanation in the guidelines for the budget preparation. 

For all costs reported, the VLAIO agency checks whether they can be accepted in the context of the project and related activities that are eligible for funding. Based on this the accepted budget is determined on which the grant is calculated. 

The grand

The grant is calculated as a percentage of the accepted project budget. This funding rate consists of a base rate, possibly supplemented by extra allowances. 

The basic funding rate for a research project is between 25 and 50%. 

The project may consist of a mix of development and research activities. Parts that include research receive a base funding rate of 50% and parts that include development receive a base funding rate of 25%. The difference between research and development is set out in the explanatory document. 

Extra allowances 

A 10% increase in the funding rate may be granted if it concerns a relevant and substantial collaboration between at least two independent companies, of which at least one is an SME and/or if it is a cross-border cooperation within the framework of an officially recognised European network in which the VLAIO agency participates. In a collaboration, each business partner bears risk and neither has more than 70% budget share of the project budget. 

A 10% increase in the funding rate for medium-sized enterprises. 

A 20% increase in the funding rate for small enterprises. 

The overall funding rate is capped at 60%.

• An increase of the funding rate by 15% if (1) it concerns a cross-border cooperation in the context of one of the following officially recognised European networks in which the VLAIO agency participates (Eurostars, ESCEL, AAL, FACCE Surplus, Susan, Susfood 2, M-ERA, ERA-MIN, MarTera, SOLAR-ERA.NET, Smart Grids Plus, Waterworks, ICT-AGRI-FOOD, BLEU BIO en ENUAC) - where none of the partners has more than 70% share of the project budget - AND (2) if the Flemish company cooperates with a Flemish research partner within this context. In this case, the total funding rate is capped at 70%.