Digital Economic Recovery: “Strategic implementation” voucher (Subsidy)

As the COVID-19 health crisis has weakened certain sectors, the vouchers under the "digital economic recovery" theme are granted to companies and non-profit organizations and aim to support increased and more secure use of digital tools and channels.

These vouchers are specific to the measure implemented and financed by the ERDF under the REACT-EU initiative.

The "strategic implementation" voucher relates to the implementation of the digitalisation project, i.e. the carrying out of developments or investments, and constitutes the thirdphase of the "digital economic recovery" theme, after the diagnosis carried out within the framework of the "diagnostic" voucher (see aid no. 95) and the strategic action plan carried out within the framework of the "strategic action plan" voucher (see aid no. 96).

The public support is set at 90% of eligible costs, exclusive of VAT.

Benefit granted

Eligible basis

Conditions of grant

* Addition of the aids

The total amount of the public support per company within the framework of the theme "economic recovery through digital technology" is limited to € 7,600, VAT excluded.

* SMEs eligible to benefit from the “strategic implementation” voucher are SMEs who are: a legal or natural person engaged in gainful activity, registered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE) and whose main operating site is located in the Walloon region, employing less than 250 workers and whose yearly turnover is less than € 50,000,000 or whose yearly balance sheet total is less than € 43,000,000.

* A non-profit association (ASBL) as referred to in Book IX of the Companies and Associations Code may also benefit from the "strategic implementation" voucher if it:

1° is subject to VAT;

2° employs at least 1 person under an employment contract;

3° employs, under the terms of an employment contract, less than 250 persons on a full-time equivalent basis;

4° engages in an activity consisting of offering goods or services on a given market;

5° has less than 50% public funding, excluding employment aid, based on the latest approved accounts;

6° has, as from the date of submission of the aid application, 1 principal place of business located in the Walloon region. The principal place of business is the one that employs the most workers within the company as a whole.

* The following sectors pursuant to the “de minimis” regulation are excluded from the "strategic implementation" voucher:

- fisheries and aquaculture sector (NACE-BEL code : 03);

- sector of the primary production of agricultural products (NACE-BEL code : 01.1 to 01.5).

* To benefit from the “strategic implementation” voucher, the company:

- must comply with the legal provisions governing the exercice of its activity as well as the social and environmental laws and regulations or must undertake to comply within the deadlines set by the relevant administration;

- must not have a debt payable to the Walloon region or a legal person subsidized by the Walloon region unless it benefits from a duly respected clearance plan;

- must not be subject to a recovery order following a decision by the European Commission declaring the aid illegal and incompatible with the common market.

* Services provisions

The services provisions including the eligible costs must be implemented within 6 months from the date of admissibility of the application file.

The finalization of the services must be carried out by 31 December 2023 at the latest.

The service covered by the "strategic implementation" voucher is carried out under the supervision of the service provider of the "diagnostic" (see aid no. 95) or "strategic action plan" (see aid no. 96) vouchers, who may decide either to undertake the implementation of the strategy and the technical development of the tools itself or to use a subcontractor for up to 100% of the services, working under their own responsibility.

* Services providers

Service providers specialised in the above-mentioned services and already approved by the SPW Economie, Emploi, Recherche for the "digital maturity" (see aid no. 47) and "cybersecurity" (see aid no. 46) vouchers can provide these services within the framework of the "digital economic recovery" vouchers.

The specialized services providers labeled by the SPW Economie, Emploi, Recherche for another topic benefit from an extension of the label and can perform services under the vouchers of the "economic recovery through digital technology" theme, on the basis of an additional assessment carried out by the SPW Economie, Emploi, Recherche, attesting to the adequacy of their skills or similar expertise.

A service provider cannot provide a "strategic implementation" service for a company in which it is involved in any way in the management and/or monitoring.

Application procedure

A. Application for support

The enterprise or the non-profit organization selects the service provider with whom the service will be delivered.

The application for support can be directly sent by the enterprise, the non-profit organization or the service provider.

It is submitted through the web platform http://www.cheques-entreprises.be and is processed electronically.

Following registration, a service provision agreement should be established with a provider approved for the voucher.

When applying, the application file must contain the following documents :

1° the application for the voucher generated by the platform;

2° the agreement between the beneficiary and the provider generated by the platform. It can be supplemented by specific elements for the support applied for;

3° for companies, the "de minimis" certificate downloadable on the platform;

4° the SME certificate, downloadable on the platform;

5° for non-profit organisations, the sworn statement downloadable on the platform, certifying the eligibility of the non-profit organisation;

6° the report of the "diagnostic” voucher or the report of the “strategic action plan" voucher, as well as the measurement of the beneficiary's initial digital maturity which is calculated with the DIGISCORE.

B. Payment of the share

When the subsidy is awarded, the SPW Economie, Emploi, Recherche invites the non-profit organization or the enterprise, via the platform, to pay the share of 10% of eligible costs, exclusive of VAT. The enterprise or the non-profit organization pays directly the VAT to the services provider.

Once the payment of the share has been received, an electronic voucher equivalent to the total amount of the support is placed in the electronic portfolio of the enterprise available on the platform : http://www.cheques-entreprises.be.

The electronic voucher can cover the services performed from the date of payment of the share of the beneficiary which is the starting date of the period within which the service must be performed.

C. Request for payment

The introduction of the payment request from the service provider must be made by 31 December 2023 at the latest.

At the end of the service, the service provider transmits the following documents :

1° the service performance report generated by the platform: http://www.cheques-entreprises.be. The latter can be supplemented by specific elements for the aid applied.

2° the statement of services;

3° the invoice issued by the service provider.

4° the measurement of the beneficiary's digital maturity assessed at the end of the services provided and calculated with the DIGISCORE which shows an increase compared to the beneficiary’s initial digital maturity.

The implementation report contains at least the following elements :

1° the detailed schedule of the actual days of service;

2° in case of sub-contracting activity, the identity of the sub-contractor and the dates of its services;

3° the mention “The amount of € … corresponding to the voucher n° (number of the voucher), will be paid by the issuer, broken down between a public intervention of € … and a € … share paid by the beneficiary.

The balance to be paid therefore amounts to € … and corresponds to … (e.g. : VAT, travel expenses, …)”.

Contacts

Forms

Legal framework

European Regulation