Events

SIMPLIFICATION OF EU FUNDS — expert debate with ADAMED GROUP

11 October 2017

This was the fourth debate on EU funds organised by Rzeczpospolita and it concerned simplifications in the procedures for obtaining EU funds. The participants included: Marek Kalupa, Director of the Department for the Coordination of European Funds Implementation at the Ministry of Development, Tomasz Wiewióra, Head of the Investment Financing Department at Adamed Group, Marzena Chmielewska, Director of the European Funds Department of the Lewiatan Confederation, Łukasz Pupek, Partner at the consulting firm SAS Advisors, and Michał Bak, R&D Director of Kronospan.

The participants agreed that using EU funds is somewhat simpler now (2014–2020) than in the previous EU financial period (2007–2013), although some aspects of cooperation still require improvement. Tomasz Wiewióra expressed the view that for a company such as Adamed Group, which uses EU funding mainly for R&D projects, obtaining the funds is easier in the current perspective, which is mainly thanks to better evaluation of the applications submitted. He also pointed out that one important change in the rules was the introduction of the option to submit a rejected application once again in the next month of the call for applications in a given year.

Further on in the discussion, Tomasz Wiewióra stated that entrepreneurs requesting funding for R&D projects could benefit significantly if the government would develop clear guidelines on compliance with the competition principle. In his opinion, this would reduce the number of cases in which the obtained funds are accidentally misused. He also added that greater predictability in cooperation with the National Centre for Research and Development with respect to grants for innovative activities is what entrepreneurs really want.

At the end of the debate, Tomasz Wiewióra also suggested a change to the existing regulation regarding restrictions on external costs in applications. This regulation states that these costs cannot amount to more than 60% of the project budget, which in the case of pharmaceutical companies such as Adamed Group, which has to carry out clinical studies at subcontractors, complicates the introduction of innovations into the market.

A full record of the debate is available in video format on the website: http://www.rp.pl/Eurodotacje-2017/171109117-Uproszczenia-w-funduszach-UE.html

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CSR/Corporate social responsibility
21 September 2017