EU rules on state aid for companies should be made more permissive with regards to research and innovation, the industry lobby group Business Europe has said.
More relaxed criteria should be used to determine whether public funding for companies to carry out R&D makes a practical difference to their activities in this area, Business Europe said in a position paper published on 23 July.
Meeting the criteria “can be extremely difficult and burdensome for companies and member states”, and it is “very difficult” to prove that state aid causes a company to carry out research it would otherwise have neglected, the lobby group said.