Are you setting up your own business ? Funding will be core to your project.

Depending on their profile, type of business (production, research, innovation) or indeed the location of the business in France, companies can benefit from various aid mechanisms.

Is your company eligible for certain local support ?

The Invest in Bretagne team, working closely with the regional council, will introduce you to the right contacts to help you find the aid to which you are entitled.

 

Trust us to help you!

 

Useful information

 

TYPES OF aid

 

• Grant : non-refundable aid calculated as a percentage of the cost or the investment.
• Subsidy : fixed non-refundable financial aid.
• Refundable advances / honour loans / zero interest loans involving a sum of money loaned without interest and refundable.
• Low rate loans, support loans.
• Co-financing and guarantees : these two mechanisms are often combined to leverage banks, which frequently provide up to 50% of the projected capital.
• Tax and social insurance exemptions, tax credits offer many aid mechanisms.

 

Different aid mechanisms can be offered to you depending on the type of investment, set-up location and people hired.

 

NATIONAL AID MECHANISMS

 

Types of investment

 

Company founder

Do you wish to set up a new company or a young new innovative company (JEI). You can benefit from different types of exemptions.

 

Research, development, innovation

There are two tax credits available :

• Research tax credit (CIR) : 30% of eligible research expenses of up to €100 million and 5% above this threshold. The French CIR is the most generous in Europe.
• Innovation tax credit (CII) : 20% of the costs necessary to design and / or produce prototypes or pilot installations of a new product, with a €400,000 ceiling.
• The green industry investment tax credit (C3IV):  designed for companies investing in industrial projects in 4 energy transition sectors: batteries, wind power, solar panels and heat pumps. The rate is 20% of eligible capital expenditure, and may be increased depending on the size of the company and its location. It is capped at €150m and can be increased to €200m or €350m depending on location.

Different schemes (likely to evolve) are offered by :

• the French National Research Agency (ANR), which offers various funding instruments.
• the French Agency for Energy Transition (ADEME), which supports energy transition projects through various aid.
• the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI), in particular with the Pass PI, financial assistance for setting up intellectual property initiatives.

 

Taking over a stressed business asset

You can benefit from the corporate tax exemption for 2 years and potentially exemptions from local taxes.

 

Industrial investment job creation

Re-industrialisation assistance (ARI) is a refundable advance with no interest or fees of between €500,000 and €2 million.

It excludes any other state assistance for national investments. ARI is for :

• SME – mid-sized firms which intend to create new structures and large-scale projects in terms of investment (at least €5 million eligible), jobs, (at least 25 jobs) and which have an impact on the employment pool.
• VSE – SME which have an eligible investment plan of at least €2 million, resulting in the net creation of 10 jobs on site.

 

Innovative and promising investment

Companies can benefit from a forward investment plan (PIA) which is based on the co-financing principle (with banks). Companies can thus benefit from refundable advances or partially refundable advances, grants or equity investments. Eligibility criteria :

• Sectors : third-level education and training, research, industrial sectors, sustainable or digital development
• Innovative nature of the project
• Environmental and social impacts
• Outlook for creating, maintaining or developing the business
• Financial solidity of the candidate company.

 

Set-up location

 

French companies can benefit from exemption or reduction regimes depending on their location in France.

There is a wide range of support available, in particular from the Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires (ANCT), depending on the location (ZFRR, QPV, etc.). Our advisers are on hand to help you identify the right scheme.

 

Employment aids

 

Operational Readiness for Individual Employment (OIRP)

This scheme enables a company to train a jobseeker before he or she is recruited, in order to impart the precise skills required for a targeted position. The OIRP leads to an employment contract of at least 6 months (permanent contract, fixed-term contract, sandwich course, professional training contract, etc.).

Recruitment grants

There are also recruitment grants which include subsidised contracts: the State makes a financial donation in return for the recruitment of a person considered a priority by the public authorities.

• The industrial training research convention (CIFRE) is aid provided to companies for hiring a trainee doctoral student within the framework of a research partnership with a public laboratory.
  • Amount: €14,000 a year for three years.
  • The CIFRE is cumulative with the research tax credit.
• Career development and apprentice contracts are alternative employment contracts, i.e. where time is shared between an educational institute for theoretical knowledge and with a company for practical know-how.
  • Types of aid: Exemption from social insurance contributions, refund of training expenses, an apprentice training bonus, tax credit, tax deductions.

 

france 2030

 

The aim of the France 2030 plan is to promote innovation, industrial competitiveness and the ecological transition. The programme targets around ten sectors, including agriculture, energy (wind power, MREs), digital technology or innovative industry.

In Brittany, this programme promotes 13 different types of support from BPI France, French Tech, ANR, etc.

 

REGIONAL AIDS

 

In order to support companies in their creation, recovery, innovation and local and international development projects, the Region has put different aid mechanisms in place.

In close association with the Region, the Invest in Bretagne team will help you identify the aids available to you depending on your project.

 

Your tools

 

• National online guide of business supports from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• Aides-entreprises.fr, a reference database on aid to companies.
• Make a French start – The main insights to grow your business in France – Business taxation in France, Business France – Mazars.
• Calls for tenders and calls for expression of interest under the current PIA (forward investment plan)

 

Your contacts