Regional Selective Assistance (RSA)
Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is a national grant scheme administered by RSA Scotland, part of the Scottish Executive.
Encourages investment and job creation in the areas of Scotland designated for regional aid under European Community (EC) law (the Assisted Areas).
Businesses of all sizes can apply for RSA, whether they are Scottish-owned or owned or headquartered outside Scotland.
In the 5 years to end March 2006, businesses in Scotland have accepted over 800 offers of RSA totalling in excess of £280m. These offers relate to projects with planned investment of £1.2bn with the aim of creating or safeguarding over 41,000 jobs.
Can I apply?
RSA is available to limited companies, sole traders or partnerships. In order to qualify for RSA, your project must meet all of the criteria listed below:
- Must take place in an assisted area
- Must directly create or safeguard jobs within your business
- Must not be simply offset by job losses elsewhere in the Assisted Areas
- Must involve an element of capital investment
- Must, along with your underlying business, be financially viable.
- Must be mainly funded from the private sector
- Must need RSA to enable it to proceed.
The current Assisted Areas map expires at the end of 2006 and the European Commission's regional aid settlement for 2007 onwards will offer reduced scope for RSA in Scotland. The new map will be available from January 2007.
Full details of the scheme are available at http://www.rsascotland.com/
Research and Development Grants
Scotland has a very supportive business environment for small and medium enterprises and larger companies wishing to undertake Research and Development activities.
The tax regime in the UK is very favourable towards Research and Development expenditure, with numerous research and development initiatives for innovative research and Development projects.
The Research and Development Initiatives aim to help companies overcome any barriers and encourage research and development activities.
There are four main R&D programmes: SCIS, SMART, SPUR and SPUR Plus. Scottish Enterprise also has its own bespoke RD&D discretionary funding for strategic new R&D.
Detailed information on each of these programmes can be found at: http://www.scottishdevelopmentinternational.com/ and http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/
Finance/Investment Funds
The Scottish Co-investment Fund (SCF) is a market driven, highly innovative ‘product' aimed at substantially increasing the number of and capacity for investment of private sector investors active in the Scottish early stage market.
Traditional public involvement in private equity, through investment in limited partnerships, carries the risk of displacing the private sector. The SCF differs by working with the existing formal and informal private equity investor base, involving them in the process rather than excluding them.
The Scottish Co-investment Fund (SCF) has been set up by Scottish Enterprise to increase the risk capital available for investment opportunities in small but ambitious Scottish companies. Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund, the SCF is a £45 million equity fund which can invest between £50,000 and £500,000 in company finance deals of up to £2 million.
Further information on financing and investment funds and can be found at: http://www.scottishdevelopmentinternational.com/ and http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/
