The goal is very (too?) ambitious. "Bringing total investment in research and development to 2020% of European gross domestic product by 3", declares Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science. A challenge to shake your wrists, which involves jointly engaged the European Investment Bank Group and the European Commission. Together, they have launched a new generation of financial instruments and advisory services to enable large and small businesses across Europe to invest 24 billion euros in research and innovation over the next seven years. A very large sum which, the promoters of the initiative assure, will be able to activate additional investments for another 24 billion. This would mean that the total resources put into circulation in Europe as a result of this initiative would reach 48 billion over the seven years.
At the origin of "InnovFin, EU Finance for Innovators" (this is the name given to the initiative) there is the growing concern for an economic trend that is still essentially stagnant, which the persistent difficulty in accessing credit certainly does not help. “On a global scale – underlines the Commissioner – the European Union is lagging behind in terms of investments in innovation by businesses. So we need to encourage banks to lend for this kind of project, and at the same time help research-intensive companies get access to finance."
"In a Europe that needs lasting economic growth so that its citizens can maintain their current standard of living and have guaranteed social protection and employment, it is essential to invest in innovation", says EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Lives. Innovation is therefore unanimously considered by the EIB and the Commission to be the most effective key to restarting growth, and with it employment, and to facilitating the reopening of the credit taps.
Compared to the more recent interventions activated by the European Investment Bank, in support of small and medium-sized enterprises, the latter is characterized not only by the overall amount of funds made available but also because it will also be accessible to the most big dimensions. More specifically, the specific instrument, called "InnovFin large projects", may amount to a minimum of 25 to a maximum of 300 million euros, which will be disbursed directly by the EIB.
Another product that will be implemented by the EIB, called "InnovFin midcap guarantees", is aimed at companies that employ up to 3.000 employees. The amount of a loan for companies of this size ranges from a minimum of 7,5 million to a maximum of 25 million.
As far as innovative small and medium-sized enterprises are concerned (with a maximum employment of 499 people), the “InnovFin SME Guarantees” product offers guarantees for loans for amounts between 7,5 and 25 million. And finally, the "InnovFin Advisory" explicitly aims at carrying out large-scale projects and at the same time putting in place guarantees to protect both the lender and the beneficiary.
