Press news


25.07.2016

PLN 6m available for technological innovations

Bank Millennium has already started to issue decisions in principle to companies looking for loan for technological innovations. This is part of the 2nd round of applications’ enrolment. Co-financing applications together with the decisions in principle may be submitted to Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego starting from 28 July. In the summer enrolment each company can get even PLN 6m subsidy in the form of a technology bonus for loan repayment. PLN 500m have been earmarked for co-financing innovative projects.

The first step towards getting a technology bonus is to obtain a decision in principle on a loan for technological innovation from a bank, which signed a co-operation agreement with BGK. The decision in principle is confirmation of financial capacity to complete the planned project and allows the applicant to proceed to subsequent stages of preparing competition documents.

Businesses emphasise that with a decision in principle for our bank they can not only prepare a complete application pack, but also gives them the certainty that the project was subjected to bona fide verification by the bank’s experts. Innovative projects always carry the additional risk of uncertainty of results and an unbiased bank analysis allows the customer to be confident that the project will be successful. In this round of enrolment it is a good idea to contact the bank early enough to learn what documents are needed to get the decision in principle. Haste is called for because in this edition BGK will be accepting applications only till 30 September and it may take even two months to prepare a project. The first enrolment round showed how much interest there is in projects supported with loans for technological innovations, with the subject matter of the projects proving that Polish businesses see development opportunities in practically every line of activity. – Agnieszka Kucharska, Head of Corporate Banking Credit Products and Processes Teams in Bank Millennium said. – It is also good to know that in the first edition, which ended in January, as much as 41% of the entire pool of subsidies for the years 2014-2020 was used to support projects.

Even PLN 6m non-repayable bonus

There are several aspects, which make the loan for technological innovations so appealing and popular. First of all this instrument has been already tried and tested – in the previous Financial Perspective it was available as the successful technology loan; also the formula of effectively combining a bank loan with an EU-funded bonus works well. The technology bonus is a non-repayable subsidy for repayment of part of a loan for technological innovation, granted by a bank. Its value can reach as much as PLN 6m. Depending on the region the bonus may cover up to 70% of eligible costs for micro and small enterprises and up to 60% for medium-sized companies.

The money is available to businesses operating in Poland, which satisfy the criteria for a micro, small or medium sized enterprise (according to Commission Regulation 651/2014) and have credit capacity.

Financial support may be used for technology projects, which aim to:

  • Purchase and implement new technology and on its basis to launch production of new goods, processes or services, or such that are a major improvement over those produced so far in Poland.
  • Implement new proprietary technology and on its basis to launch production of new goods, processes or services, or such that are a major improvement over those produced so far in Poland.

The project aims to improve competitiveness by boosting innovation. There is no doubt in my mind that the projects selected for implementation have very strong potential in this respect. We as a bank have much respect for such customers because we too are an institution, which invests in new technologies and always seeks new solutions. – Agnieszka Kucharska added.

Enrolment starts on 28 July

In the second edition of the Loan for Technological Innovations enrolment will take place from 28 July to 30 September 2016. The loan for technological innovations is available from Bank Millennium under the cooperation agreement signed on 3 November 2015 with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK). The loan is implemented as part of the Smart Growth Operational Programme 2014-2020, Measure 3.2. Support of results of R&D work, Submeasure 3.2.2. Loan For Technological Innovations.