Scheme vouchsafes innovation for SMEs

Vouchers for Innovation, a financing option for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that need services such as research, innovation, technological transfer and so on, has been operational since March 1, announced the National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS) during a conference last week that brought together important pundits in this domain.

The maximum value of a Voucher for Innovation cannot be higher than 90 percent of the project’s eligible expenses, or RON 45,000 (EUR 10,000). The program has an allocated budget of RON 6,450,000 (in excess of EUR 1.4 million) for 2012.

Activities in domains such as industrial research, experimental development, technical feasibility studies and the protection of intellectual rights can be financed through the scheme.

The launch of the vouchers had been discussed ever since last year but it is only now that they have become functional.

According to Cristian Parvan, general secretary of the Association of Business People in Romania, “The present time is Romania’s last shot at innovation. After oil, gas, gold and salt, we stand to lose innovation as well if we do not apply some shock measures. As things stand right now, there are only approximately 1 million Romanian citizens working in industry. We risk becoming merely a consumption market. But in order to consume, you need revenues. A market that does not produce does not have revenues so we shall see how we are able to consume.”

As solutions to kick-start innovation in Romania, he proposed the introduction of a fiscal facility, applicable in all EU member states, which gives investors in an innovative company tax exemption when they sell their stake. This already happens in some countries, but not yet in Romania, he said. Moreover, Parvan proposed that, for any product that is innovated in Romania until it reaches the prototype stage, taxes be footed by the state. Last but not least, the financing focus should be moved from large companies, which have more resources at their disposal, to creative SMEs.

Christina Leucuta, coordinator of the cluster policy, the Direction of Industrial Policies in the Ministry of Economy, said, “The future will belong to clusters of firms in cooperation with universities and research centers, and not to multinationals.”

The European Commission has already outlined a policy framework for action aiming to raise clusters’ level of excellence and openness. “These clusters only had private financing and yet they managed to survive. They each have a life cycle which is longer if they manage to innovate,” said Leucuta.

In Romania, cluster associations are in their infancy. “For example, in the aviation domain, no group of well-known companies has made itself known as a cluster apart from SMEs, such as the Aerospace Transylvania Cluster. Other successful clusters have been formed in industries such as automotive, ITC, the creative industry, textiles, renewable energies and agro-food,” she said.

SMEs do not have the resources to innovate on their own but, if they form clusters, they can decrease their costs and have a better shot.

Pundits at the event agreed that competition in the future will be between territorial concentrations of companies. “If there is something that has remained active in the European Union it is competition among regions. In Romania, thanks to communism, the term ‘territorial concentration’ causes allergies, because of collectivism. The problem in Romania is the lack of confidence required for collaboration. This is why collaboration among Romanian companies in order to reduce their costs is very little used here,” commentators said.

Otilia Haraga

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