Portugal has €315 million to finance company innovation

Portugal’s government has set up a financing line with €315 million to help finance companies’ innovation efforts.

The Financial Instrument for Innovation and Competitiveness (IFIC) falls under the aegis of Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP).

The IFIC was announced in July and created on August 14. This mechanism, inserted in the scope of Component C05 – Capitalisation and Business Innovation of the RRP, represents a relevant opportunity for the Portuguese business network, in a transversal way, through the support of business investment projects in innovative and specialised activities or in research and development processes, which foster the connection between companies and science, with a special focus on innovation related to the green and digital transition.

Behind the creation of the IFIC is the latest update to Portugal’s RRP programme which had been formally accepted by the European Council in May, to which, among other changes, it created a measure called RE-CO5-I14 – ‘Company Innovation’ which consists of public investment through grants made in line with the European Commissions recommendations ‘NextGenerationEU – The Road to 2026’, which includes guidelines for Member-States to help them simplify their RRPs

It is expected that this new system will contribute considerably to the execution of the contracted funds under the RRP, while allowing a wider implementation of the investments by the beneficiaries, provided that the contracting of the support occurs by June 30, 2026.