Companies of all sizes may be eligible provided that they are based in Scotland or planning to set up in Scotland. SMEs must meet the European Community definition of a small and medium-sized enterprise. In essence, this requires you to:

Have less than 250 employees (full-time equivalent world-wide, including partners and executive directors) and have either
An annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million and/or
An annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million.
Grants will be made at the discretion of Scottish Enterprise. The selection process will take account of a number of factors including the nature of R&D, whether it creates or safeguards R&D jobs, whether it links in to other local companies perhaps for materials or specialist knowledge, whether there is a global market opportunity, whether intellectual property has been considered. We will also look at the financial and commercial aspects of an application as well as the management expertise available to the business.

Account will also be taken of the wider impact and the project’s implications for society including factors such as environmental impact, sustainability and health and safety. We will not support projects which will have a known adverse effect on the environment and/or society.

In essence, we will look to support those projects which benefit Scotland’s economy. In doing so we will need to understand why you need our support to make this activity happen as well as what might happen anyway if support isn’t available.