On May 27th, 2014, Commissioner for the Digital Agenda highlights how new state aid rules cut red tape and make it easier to invest in an innovative future
European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Ms. Neelie Kroes championed the benefits of the new state aid rules and mentioned the need to invest in worth-while innovative and strategic projects so as to adequately support public investment in a digital future. These new state aid rules will enter into force on 1 July 2014 and are undoubtedly of note as they could potentially lend support to VPH in its development of a computational science framework for digital, personalised, and predictive in silico medicine suitable for the 21st Century.
The EU's R&D&I state aid rules are set out in two complementary texts: the new GBER (which also covers other types of state aid sets out the conditions under which state aid may be granted without prior notification to the Commission. The new Framework, in turn, sets out the criteria under which the Commission will assess R&D&I aid measures which have to be notified by Member States because they have a higher potential for distorting competition.
In that regard, Commissioner Kroes highlighted two extremely advantageous gains that will be brought about as a result of the EU's new state aid rules, including:
New criteria on "projects of common European interest" that will facilitate ease of investment in innovative and strategic projects. Commissioner Kroes mentioned electronics as an area that will best showcase numerous advantages of this new project and emphasised that governments will be able to fund, not just pilot lines, but the "first industrial production" that takes place before mass manufacturing.
The link to the new State Aid rules can be found here.
