Tax credit: support for SMEs to create innovative, eco-designed products
SMEs are eligible for the innovation tax credit if their projects result in a prototype with superior performance, new functionalities, or eco-design in particular. Voluntary standards and third-party assessment are effective tools for achieving this.
The innovation tax credit, supported by the Directorate General for Enterprise, is reserved for SMEs. These companies can benefit from a tax credit of 20% of the expenditure required to design prototypes or pilot plants for new products.
The sine qua none condition is that the product (hardware or software) must be new (in the innovative sense). The SME is required to prove, at the start of the project, that the product offers superior technical, functional, ergonomic or eco-design performance to products marketed by its competitors. Voluntary standards and assessment are effective ways of achieving this.
Innovating with proven methods
Since 2014, over 60 professionals have drawn up a series of innovation management guides under the aegis of AFNOR. Management of creativity, intellectual property, strategic intelligence… these voluntary standards are pragmatic, operational documents. These are reference methods for identifying good ideas and developing them by following key stages. They are applicable to all types of organization and all types of innovation.
Eco-design, an effective approach for SMEs
The AFAQ Eco-conception assessment model was created to help companies make progress in integrating environmental criteria right from the initial design phases of a product or service. In Nord-Pas de Calais, where AFNOR Certification carries out assessments for the winners of the major eco-design competition, it’s clear that SMEs and VSEs are achieving high levels of performance: 15% of companies have achieved the “confirmed” level of the AFAQ Eco-Conception model, i.e. between 500 and 700 points. In-house deployment and management of a project such as an eco-designed product are made easier by the size of a small or medium-sized business. This is also confirmed in Alsace and Lorraine, where the 5 companies rated as “progressing” in 2011 are also VSEs and SMEs.
