Support for research organisations in particular

In Section 20, the EFTA Surveillance Authority's guidelines on state aid for research and development and innovation provide information on what ESA and the European Commission consider to be non-economic activities on the part of research organisations and research infrastructures:

(a) primary activities of research organisations and research infrastructures, in particular:

(i) education for more and better skilled human resources. In line with case-law (33) and decisional practice of the Commission (34), and as explained in the Notice on the notion of State aid and the SGEI Communication (35), public education organised within the national educational system, predominantly or entirely funded by the State and supervised by the State is considered as a non-economic activity (36);

(ii) independent R&D for more knowledge and better understanding, including collaborative R&D where the research organisation or research infrastructure engages in effective collaboration (37);

(iii) wide dissemination of research results on a non-exclusive and non-discriminatory basis, for example through teaching, open-access databases, open publications or open software. 

(b) knowledge transfer activities, where they are conducted either by the research organisation or research infrastructure (including their departments or subsidiaries) or jointly with, or on behalf of other such entities, and where all profits from those activities are reinvested in the primary activities of the research organisation or research infrastructure. The non-economic nature of those activities is not prejudiced by contracting the provision of corresponding services to third parties by way of open tenders. 

The primary activities of research organisations and research infrastructures, as described above, are thus regarded as non-economic activities. However, many research organisations and infrastructures are also engaged in economic activity. Section 22 of the EFTA Surveillance Authority's guidelines mentions contract research and leasing of equipment to undertakings, as well as providing services to undertakings as examples of this.

In order for us to be able to provide support for the non-economic activity of research organisations without the aid constituting state aid, the research organisations must have established a clear distinction between their non-economic and economic activities.

Three requirements from the ESA

The EFTA Surveillance Authority stipulates three requirements in this connection, all of which must be satisfied:

1. First, there must be a formal separation between the economic activities and the non-economic activities. This may be achieved by either organising the economic activities as a separate legal entity or by keeping separate accounts for the economic activities and the non-economic activities. This formal separation between economic and non-economic activities is a mechanism to verify that cross-subsidisation is not taking place. The factor determining whether a research organisation is in fact receiving state aid for its economic activities is whether the support awarded for its non-economic activities is in reality going to economic activities.
2. Second, there must be a system to ensure that the economic activities of the research organisation pay market price for all relevant inputs. The economic activities of the research organisation must cover all relevant variable costs and an appropriate contribution to fixed costs.
3. Third, there must be an adequate system of control enabling the Norwegian authorities to monitor that cross-subsidisation between the two types of activities is not taking place. Access to adequately separated and detailed accounts is a key component of such a control system.