The Innovation Assistance Fund has increased the grant amount for startup support programs

On 17.04.2021, a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Innovation Promotion Fund was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation M. G. Reshetnikov.

Maxim Reshetnikov supported the directions proposed by the council for the selection of projects for financing in 2021. The list of areas includes grant support programs within the framework of the federal projects "Acceleration of small and medium-sized businesses", "Artificial Intelligence", "Digital Technologies" and other state programs.

Thus, within the framework of the federal project "Artificial Intelligence", the implementation of which began in 2021, the Innovation Assistance Fund will implement three areas of support: acceleration of AI startups, the development of open libraries, and the creation and development of AI startups. For the provision of grants in these areas in 2021, the Fund received a subsidy of 1.4 billion rubles. Students, developers of AI solutions and startups will be able to apply for support.

Within the framework of the federal project "Acceleration of SME", 3.7 billion rubles were allocated. Support will be given to projects of small enterprises for R&D and for expanding the production of innovative products, including in the field of urban environment, sports, ecology and social entrepreneurship.

The Fund will allocate 940 million rubles for the implementation of the federal project "Digital Technologies". Support will be available to companies that develop digital solutions, including scaling. One can also get a grant for the commercialization of his developments.

In addition, the Fund plans to support business in the framework of the state programs "Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation", "Development of the electronic and radio-electronic industry" and "Economic Development and Innovative Economy". 7.6 billion rubles will be allocated for grants under these programs.

Also, as part of the support for startups and improving conditions for projects at the early and seed stages, from 2021, the Fund increased the grant amount under the START program from 2 to 3 million rubles, and the second stage of the program (START-2) to 7 million rubles.

According to the terms of the "START" program, individuals (startup teams and young scientists) can also participate in the selection, with the subsequent opening of a legal entity. At the same time, from 2021, the terms of the R&D stages will be reduced (from 3 to 2), now startups will be able to spend less time on preparing reporting documents and devote more time to the project.

In order to support the republican developers, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan actively cooperates with the Fund. The year 2020 was very productive for the Republic of Tatarstan, both in terms of the number of announced projects and the number of supported ones. By the end of 2020, more than 590 projects were announced and 119 projects worth more than 720 million rubles were supported (11.2 % more than in 2019). This is the 4th result in Russia after Moscow, the Moscow region and St. Petersburg.