The government approved the TechUp Romania Program on Thursday, August 20. The initiative includes a new financing line worth more than EUR 1 billion, which aims to transform research into production and develop advanced technologies.
The program focuses on areas with high added-value potential such as advanced computing, artificial intelligence, microelectronics and digital infrastructure; biotechnology, Agri-Tech and precision health; green energy, storage and climate technologies; mobility, space and autonomous systems; advanced materials and Industry 4.0; cybersecurity and digital security.
Sizable budget
The total budget of TechUp Romania, which was established at the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, is RON 5.313 billion, of which RON 2.656 billion is allocated to regional investment aid and RON 2.657 billion to research and development projects. The average annual budget is approximately RON 759 million, equivalent to EUR 150 million. Financing agreements may be issued between 2026 and 2032, while payments will be made between 2027 and 2041, according to the official press release.
To be financed, projects submitted under this program must have eligible costs between RON 5 and 50 million and include two successive components: a minimum of RON 2 million for research and development and a minimum of RON 3 million for investment in production or service provision capacity. The two stages involve a single application for a financing agreement.
“With TechUp, for the first time, we are linking research and production in a single financing pathway and introducing the possibility of granting an advance for research. We want to make better use of Romanian human capital, direct it toward entrepreneurship and advanced technologies, and keep intellectual property within the company that develops the technology,” said interim finance minister Alexandru Nazare, cited by News.ro.
In the program, the government not only finances research or investment in production capacities, but creates, for the first time, an integrated mechanism that links the two stages and supports the transformation of a technology developed in Romania into a product and a competitive industrial capacity, officials from the Ministry of Finance said.
Tax deductions and grants
One of the main new features of the mechanism is the possibility of granting an advance of up to 30% of the annual value of the approved grant for the research and development component. A new advance application may be submitted after the previous one has been justified, while beneficiaries using this mechanism submit quarterly reports on the project’s progress and use of funds.
For the research and development component, the program combines grants with a 200% tax deduction for certain eligible expenses involving tangible and intangible assets. The maximum aid is 50% for industrial research and 25% for experimental development, to which the regional bonuses provided for by the European framework may be added. For the production stage, support is granted in the form of regional aid, within the limits of the applicable regional aid map.
Beneficiaries
The program involves two categories of beneficiaries. Category A is intended for autonomous enterprises that do not have sufficient resources for their own contribution and that attract private capital from venture capital funds and/or business angels. In this case, the private investor’s involvement also serves as business validation and discipline for projects at a stage when traditional bank financing is difficult to access.
Category B includes enterprises that can secure the necessary contribution from a broader mix of private sources: own capital, reinvested profit, bank loans, intra-group loans, venture capital or business angels.
In both situations, the beneficiary must provide a financial contribution of at least 25% of eligible costs, both for the research and development component and for the production component, from resources that do not benefit from other public support.
TechUp also introduces a more flexible approach for the period following the completion of the investment, the statement noted.
“In the first two years of monitoring, progress toward the market can be demonstrated through a wide range of results: pilot projects with customers, paid tests, letters of intent, purchase interest, progress in certification, customer validation, subsequent financing, intellectual property assets, strategic partnerships or other evidence of progress toward commercialization. The maintenance period may be extended by up to two years if demonstrable progress exists,” according to Finance Ministry officials.
The scheme is designed to take into account the specific nature of investments in DeepTech, where the path from prototype to commercial product is longer and involves a high level of technological and commercial risk. If commercial results fall below initial estimates, the mechanism provides, in certain situations, for proportional recovery according to the degree of underachievement, rather than automatically recovering the entire support.
At the same time, firm conditions remain in place regarding the completion of the research component and reaching the technological maturity level stipulated in the financing agreement.
The Ministry of Finance stated that a central element of the scheme is protecting the technological value created through financing. The beneficiary is required to maintain intellectual property rights over the product or service resulting from the research and development component throughout the entire period of maintaining the investment in production. In addition, the economic activity and intellectual property resulting from the research must be maintained in the region where the investment is carried out for the period stipulated by the scheme.
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