The application for this subsidy must be carried out by means of an online application form and this form must be submitted prior to the start of the investments.

The application for the Strategic Ecology Support must be carried out by means of the application form. This application form must be submitted prior to the start of the investments.

The applications will be processed case by case and will be assessed in three steps, after which a proposal for granting the support will be presented to the Flemish Minister of Finance. The following three steps will be taken in chronological order:

• Step 1: In this step the assessment committee will review the strategic character of the investment project.
• Step 2: In this step the case manager will assess whether the request is permissible and satisfies the legal conditions.
• Step 3: The Flemish Institute for Technological Research will assess the technical aspects of the investments:
  • the qualifying investments;
  • the additional costs;
  • the performance (ecology number/ eco-class).

Project description

The project description covers the substantive aspects of the application.

This is a concise description of:

• the activities of the enterprise and the branch of the company where the investment will be executed
• the project, including the planned ecological investment and the comparable standard investment
• the contribution to environmental and climate objectives, including a calculation thereof
• the strategic value of the investment project
• the current status regarding the environmental permit
• a declaration on honour confirming that the ecological investments are not legally required and that no other aid has been applied for or obtained for the investment

Project budget

All CAPEX and OPEX costs and the environmental impact of both the ecological investment and the standard investment must be recorded in the Excel application form. Also map the input and output of the process.

Admissibility check

After submission, VLAIO will evaluate the applications on the basis of the admissibility criteria below:

• The applicant meets the conditions for submission at enterprise level (section 3.1 of the STRES manual)
• The applicant meets the conditions for submission at project level (section 4.1 of the STRES manual)
• The applicant is investing in a technology that falls within the scope of strategic ecological support (section 4 of the STRES manual)

VLAIO decides whether or not the application is admissible. If the application is not admissible, VLAIO will notify the applicant by email and via the eBox Enterprise, your company’s secure electronic mailbox.