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INVEST NI DESIGN PROGRAMME
APPLICATION FORM PHASE 1
Section B
Code Number:
(Invest NI use only)
Applications are only considered valid if all applicable sections have been
completed.
De Minimis Aid Declaration
If you have been offered Government funded business support such as grants or subsidised consultancy
from other Government Departments, Intertrade Ireland, Local Councils or any other source over the last
3 years this might impact on your eligibility to receive a grant as the Design programme operates as ‘de
minimis’ aid, under EC Regulation (EC) No 1407/2013 (de minimis aid).
The maximum amount of de minimis aid that an undertaking can be offered within its current and 2
previous accounting years is €200,000. Where an undertaking is part of a group of companies the de
minimis limit applies to the combined Group within the UK and NI and not individual undertakings or
companies within the Group. To allow us to determine whether awarding this grant will breach this limit,
please complete the table below that details the date and value of any de minimis aid the company has
received during its last 3 fiscal (accounting) years. Where the Company is part of a Group of companies
please complete the table for all Group companies.
Please note that it is your responsibility to check whether the support you have received was
classed as ‘de minimis’ aid. If in doubt, please check with whoever provided you with the
support.
Has the company or any company within the Group (if applicable) received any
form of public support or grant that was classed as de minimis in the current or
previous 2 financial years?
If ‘Yes’, please provide detail in the table below:-
Date support/grant
funding awarded
Funding body
Purpose / Scheme
Yes
No
Amount
TOTAL
What is the date of the end of your accounting (fiscal) year
(dd/mm)?
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Invest NI de minimis Schemes
To assist you in determining the de minimis support you have received in your last three
accounting years, a list of Invest NI’s de minimis programmes is attached at Annex A along with
the value of that support where appropriate.
Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of de minimis support available in
Northern Ireland.
I confirm that:

The details provided on this form are current and accurate to the best of my knowledge.

I understand that completion of this form neither entitles nor requires me to take part in any
particular business support services in the future.
Signed on
behalf of
applicant
Position
Print Name
Date
Company
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Annex A Invest NI de minimis Schemes
Programme / Scheme
Value of de minimis Aid
Accelerated Support Fund
Letter of Offer Value
Grant for R&D (on a case by case basis)
Letter of Offer Value
(up to max £50k for New to R&D; occasionally up to max
£120k in exceptional other cases)
Business Improvement Agent
Letter of Offer Value
Business Solutions Consultancy
Letter of Offer Value up to a maximum of £15,800
Carbon Trust Interest Subsidy on loans
Determined by size of loan
CDS Consultancy (Large orgs = de
minimis)
Letter of Offer Value max £7,500*
CDS Interim Manager (Large orgs = de
minimis)
Letter of Offer Value max £15,000* (Large Co only)
CDS Non Executive Director Programme
(Large orgs = de minimis)
Letter of Offer Value up to a maximum of £15,000
CE Marking Programme (ceased 2012)
£1,995
Collaborative Networks Programme
Value stated in the Collaborative Networks confirmation
letter
Design Programme
Main Design Project: £10k*,Mini Design Project: £5k*
Green Technology Initiative
Letter of Offer value
Growth Accelerator Programme
Letter of Offer value
Innovation Vouchers
£4,000*
MIS – Management Information Systems
Up to £25,000
Northstar Mentoring Assignment
Mentoring Costs up to £800*
Propel Programme
Letter of Offer value
Resource Efficiency Audit Framework
Agreed Consultancy Costs up to £1,000*
Sustainable Development Implementation
Framework
Agreed Consultancy Costs up to £5,000*
Technology Technical Development
Incentive (TDI) (up to 26/5/2015)
Trade Solutions:
( Large Companies only, SME offers are notified aid)
( Large Companies only, SME offers are notified aid)
Letter of offer value (for offers issued before 26 May
2015 only)
Trade Solution support varies and may be up to
£20,000.Contact the Invest NI Trade Team directly to
determine the value of any trade solution support which
you may need to declare.
N. B. * indicates the maximum level of support available against the given support mechanism
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Notes:
Design Programme – open SME’s who meet the criteria to be an Invest NI client. The Design
Programme will give an insight into the importance of design in achieving commercial success.
It offers businesses an opportunity to work with experienced mentors and design professionals on
design projects.
The Programme (duration approx. 5 months) has two key elements:

The Design Programme gives management an insight into the importance of design in
achieving commercial success for their business. It offers businesses an opportunity to
work with experienced mentors and design professionals on their own design projects.
Participation on DP will be a competitive application based process and will now also run in
two phases.
o PHASE 1 - Offers a mixture of workshops, networking opportunities and up to 7
days consultancy with a professional designer. There will be a charge to companies
of £1250 + VAT.
o PHASE 2 - Approx. 50% of those completing Phase 1 of the DP will compete for a
place on the Phase 2 Implementation programme at a cost of £1800 + VAT. This
element will allow for up to a further 10 days consultancy to aid the projects
implementation.
1. SME definitions
A Small Enterprise is defined as:
 an Enterprise that has fewer than 50 employees and
 has either an annual turnover and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding
€10m (£6.7m)*
A Medium sized Enterprise is defined as


an enterprise that has between 50 employees and 249 employees and
has either an annual turnover not exceeding €50m (£42m)* or an annual balance
sheet total not exceeding €43m (£36m)*
A Large Enterprise will be anything else that does not fit into either one of the above
categories.
In all cases, if the enterprise is more than 25% owned by one or more enterprises or itself has a
holding of more than 25% in any other enterprise, it will be necessary to consult the full definition
in the Official Journal (see **below).
Excluded from the holding company threshold in the above definition are public investment
corporations, venture capital companies and institutional investors provided that they do not
exercise control. However, an enterprise cannot be considered as meeting either definition if
25% or more of the capital or voting rights are directly or indirectly controlled, jointly or
individually, by one or more public bodies.
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If a company is part of a group then the employee, turnover, annual balance sheet and
ownership limits apply to the group.
*Conversion rate accurate as of 1st July 2009
**For the full definition, see the “Official Journal of the European Commission (L 124/36)
20th May 2003 – Commission Recommendation of 6th May 2003 concerning the definition
of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.”
2.
DISCLOSURE, PUBLICITY, CONFIDENTIALITY
2.1
2.2
Invest NI shall be entitled to publish details of the amounts and types of assistance
offered at such times and in such manner as Invest NI or the Commission may decide.
The Client shall render Invest NI such assistance as Invest NI may reasonably request in
connection with any publicity which Invest NI may deem appropriate in respect of the
Project.
2.3
Invest NI shall be entitled to disclose details of the Client to other government agencies
and departments, and bodies engaged in economic development in the EU (subject to
the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 and any other applicable legal restrictions
which prevent the disclosure of such information) where Invest NI considers that
disclosure is in the Client’s interest.
2.4
Invest NI may include any information which it receives in relation to the Client in a
database of economic, financial and statistical information and may publish or
disseminate reports derived from such database provided that such reports do not
specifically identify the Client.
2.5
Invest NI shall be entitled to disclose information on the Client to Invest NI’s professional
advisers who are subject to obligations of confidence or to consultants working on Invest
NI’s behalf provided such disclosure is made for the specific purpose for which the
consultants are engaged.
2.6
Subject to paragraph 2.1 Invest NI shall treat all information received from the Client as
confidential and shall not disclose such information to any third party other than those
referred to at paragraphs 2.3 and 2.5, without the consent of the Client, such consent
not to be unreasonably withheld or delayed, except as may be required by law (including
without limitation Freedom of Information legislation) or for the purpose of preventing or
detecting crime or for the purposes of any parliamentary or governmental enquiry into
the activities of Invest NI.
3.
LIMITS ON DE MINIMIS AIDS
3.1
Under EC Regulation (EC) No 1407/2013” (“de minimis” aid regulation), any financial
assistance provided in relation to this programme is de minimis aid. There is a ceiling of
Euro 200,000 for all de minimis aid provided to any one firm over a three year fiscal period.
Any de minimis aid awarded to you in relation to this programme will be relevant if you wish
to apply, or have applied, for any other de minimis aid. For the purposes of the de minimis
regulation, you must retain this application form and any other documentation which may
be issued to you for three fiscal years from the date of this application form and any other
documentation relating to this programme which may be issued to you to enable you to
produce them on any request by the United Kingdom public authorities or the Commission.
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Annex B - Design Category Definitions
- Engineering based three dimensional products
Product / Industrial Design
- Capital & consumer goods
- Environmental & interactive information technology design
- Transportation & automotive design
- Contract & domestic furniture
- Furniture ranges & individual pieces
- Craft related products
- Ceramics, glass, jewellery, silver, cutlery, toys
- Souvenirs, travel & leather goods
- Product and process design engineering for manufacture
Visual Communication
- Corporate / brand identity
- Design for print, annual reports, brochures, books & magazines
- Design for advertising
- Design for two & three dimensional packaging
- Design for film, television & video reproduction
- Applied graphics signing systems
- Vehicle livery & graphics for products
- Architectural graphics\ way finding
- Type design, typography, calligraphy for reproduction
- Illustration
- Photography
- Web sites, intranets & extranets
Digital & New Media /
Interaction Design
- Multimedia CD-ROMs, DVDs & kiosks
- Computer games
- Interactive elements for video DVDs
- Interactive elements for use within web sites
- Interactive content for mobile devices
- Digital content
Interior & Furniture Design
- Office, shop, hotel, factory, public interiors
- Temporary exhibition
- Commercial & industrial interiors
- Domestic & residential interiors
- Television, film & theatre design
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Design Management or
Strategic Design
This discipline bridges research, innovation, management and
design, and forms an ideal commercial bridge between originators
and industry, and between technology and the consumer.
Design management encompasses the ongoing processes,
business decisions, and strategies that enable innovation and
create effectively-designed products, services, communications,
environments, and brands that enhance our quality of life and
provide organisational success.
Design management seeks to link design, innovation, technology,
management and customers to provide sustainable competitive
advantage embracing economic, social, and environmental factors.
Fashion and Textiles
- Surface pattern
- Printed textiles, carpets, patterned papers
- Trends and forecasting
- Patterns for ceramics & tiles
Service Design
Service Design is the design of experiences that reach people
through many different touch-points, and that happen over time.
Service Designers visualise, formulate and choreograph solutions
that are not yet available. They watch and interpret needs and
behaviours and transform them to improve the quality of the user’s
experience and the interaction between service provider and
customer.
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