Investment Aid to Shared Service and Research & Development centres

• The maximum grant sum is 200,000 euros.
• The maximum duration of a project is 18 months.
• Grant rate:
  • up to 35% of eligible costs, if the support service centre is located in Tallinn or in adjacent municipalities;
  • up to 65% of eligible costs, if the support service centre is located outside of Tallinn or adjacent municipalities;
• When providing training support, the share of the grant in the project’s eligible expenses is:
  • up to 50% of the fee for the person conducting the training or of the remuneration costs of employees participating in the training;
• The applicant has to belong to a group the consolidated turnover of which was at least 25 million euros in the last financial year.
• The group has to conduct economic activities in at least two foreign countries.
• As a result of the project, at least 5 new full-time jobs should be created. The average gross salary of the created positions should be at least 1.25 times the size of the county-based monthly gross salary depending on the location of the new centre.
• The project plan of the applicant has previously received a positive evaluation from the EAS. In order to receive preliminary assessment, please contact the EAS.
• The following projects are preferred:
  • projects that involve cooperation with vocational training institutions, applied higher education schools or universities in terms of research and development activities;
  • projects that fall within the following growth areas of smart specialisation:
    • information and communications technology (ICT) horizontally through other sectors,
    • health technologies and services,
    • a more effective use of resources.
• The project should match at least one of the preferences:
  • Projects that involve cooperation with vocational training institutions, applied higher education schools or universities during the eligibility period in terms of research and development activities;
  • The project falls within the growth areas of smart specialisation.
• The regulation of investment aid to shared service and reasearch development centres can be found here.

Each applicant who has received a grant from European Regional Development Fund must inform the public about receiving the grant, using the logo of the European Regional Development Fund and the EAS. Please refer to the guideline and logos.

• starting up the activities of a shared service or research and development centre in Estonia and purchasing fixed assets that are necessary for its advancement, including the lease payments that are payable during the project period on the basis of a lease contract used for purchasing the fixed assets;
• expenses for renovating a building or part of a building that is used as a place of business for the shared service or research and development centre in Estonia;
• recruitment service expenses of employees who are necessary for the activity of the shared service or research and development centre;
• wages of the centre staff and the taxes payable from it in proportion to the time spent working on the project;
• holiday pay in proportion to the time spent working on the project;
• travel expenses;
• fees of the person who conducts vocational training for the support service and development centres staff;
• remuneration for the full-time employees who participate in the training, as well as the national taxes and payments payable from the aforementioned remuneration in proportion to the training participation hours if the employee works on the project only;
• operating costs of training providers and assignment costs of trainees that are directly related to the training project.