On Thursday, 10th November, we had the pleasure of holding the seminar “Financing Innovation for Businesses”, at the premises of the Spanish Chamber. We held this seminar in collaboration with F. Iniciatives, member of the Chamber.
On this occasion, Cristina Carmona, Head of External Relations and Communications of the Chamber, gave a warm welcome to all attendees on behalf of our institution and gave the floor to the speakers of the session: Mr. Antoine Abbatucci, Business Development Manager and Mr. Eneko Igartua, International Grants Consultant.
Mr. Abbatucci, began the session introducing the schemes of the Research and Development Tax Incentives. The main aim of this tax incentive is to increase the competitiveness of the UK companies and to guide them through their R&D activities expansion.
After that, Antoine explained the requirements that HM Revenue & Customs have established for companies to be able to access grants, and he then introduced the R&D tax relief for SMEs. He started by defining the concept of an SME following the European Commission criteria and then he went on to describe the Calculation of the R&D Tax Relief and the benefits SMEs can have through the claiming process which works by self-assessment.
After Antoine finished the introduction, it was the turn of his colleague Eneko Igartua who introduced to attendees the UK´s Innovation Agency, which funds, supports, and connects innovative British businesses through a unique mix of people and programmes to accelerate sustainable economic growth.
As Eneko explained, there are a series of initiatives currently running to foster research-based and innovation-driven projects, including the European R+D+I Grant, Horizon 2020. This is a funding framework programme for all EU research and innovation-related activities being carried out between 2014 and 2020. With a budget of 70.2 billion euros, Horizon 2020 was created with the aim to strengthen the EU’s position in research, innovation, and technology matters.
To conclude the seminar, Antoine Abbatucci offered an overview of the Brexit impact for R&D Funding; for now there are no changes in the participation of British companies within European programmes until the Brexit become effective, but after Brexit multiple scenarios are possible and it is key to be informed of different European grants and funds to react accordingly.
After the session, all attendees had the opportunity to exchange their impressions and ideas about the points covered in the seminar while enjoying some breakfast.
We would like to thank all attendees for joining us and particularly Antoine Abbatucci and Eneko Igartua from F.Iniciatives for delivering such an insightful seminar.
If you want to find out about other activities organised by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, we encourage you to keep an eye on our UPCOMING EVENTS section on our website. In addition to this, you can also subscribe to our weekly newsletter in order to receive updates and information about our events.
