NEOTEC Program

CDTI's contribution through NEOTEC will under no circumstances exceed 70% of the total project budget. The remaining 30% must be provided by the company's partners in the form of monetary contributions before signing the contract with CDTI. The maximum amount that can be aspired to is 250,000€.

Those companies that incorporate the figure of doctors dedicated to innovation will be able to access subsidies of up to €325,000 or 85% of the total project budget.

The purpose of NEOTEC is to partially finance the creation phase of a technology-based company. The company must have a clear R&D plan with a high technological level. The objective is to support novice entrepreneurs, not to support the diversification of other existing companies or established entrepreneurs.

Startups or small businesses that are less than 3 years and more than 6 months old at the time the aid is granted, with a minimum written capital of €20,000 and that can demonstrate their innovative nature.

In addition, companies, in order to be beneficiaries of NEOTEC aid from CDTI, must be able to demonstrate their innovative nature, through the report of an external expert that certifies the future development of new products or services (or the improvement of these) with respect to the state current technology in the sector, implicitly carrying a certain risk of technological or industrial failure; or through the justification of an auditor who certifies that the company's R&D costs represent at least 10% of the total operating costs.

Those projects in which the business plan presented does not evidence continuity in the development of technology, as well as those companies that carry out any type of activity that causes environmental damage, will not be able to be beneficiaries of the subsidies.

- Business plan: The company must present both an executive summary and a commercial exploitation plan.
- Technology and degree of innovation: This is the most relevant criterion and the first to be evaluated (projects that do not reach the minimum threshold will be directly discarded without the need to evaluate the rest of the criteria).
- Management capacity of the entrepreneurial team.
- Socioeconomic and environmental impact.

Investments in fixed assets, personnel expenses, materials, external collaborations and other costs.

The aid is disbursed in two tranches. The first tranche is made by bank transfer 15 days after signing the contract for 40, 50 or 60% (depending on the result of the evaluation) of the total amount of the approved aid. The second tranche, for the remaining amount, is carried out once the final amount of the project's expenses and investments has been credited to the CDTI (therefore it is not received until the project is finished).

Certification from an external auditor who certifies that the company's R&D expenses exceed 15% of its total operating expenses for at least one of the three years prior to the granting of the aid or, if it is a new company, according to the audit of the current fiscal year.