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The Research, Innovation and Design Center

Centro Ricerche e Studi dei Laghi – an academic spin-off of the Carolina Albasio School of Advanced Studies in Castellanza – is registered in the MIUR National Research Registry and certified by Unioncamere as a 4.0 Technology Transfer Center Certification (according to the MISE directorial decree of 22/12/17).
It supports public and private companies, institutions and professionals in the sector in the development of research projects, innovation, design, 4.0 training and patent boxes in the thematic areas of its 8 Departments.
Researchers and research consultants are coordinated by the Department Directors and are guided in innovative methodologies by a Scientific Steering Committee composed of professors and university researchers of important universities.

Researchers and research consultants are coordinated by the Department Directors and are guided with innovative methodologies by a scientific committee composed by University Professors and Researchers of major Italian Universities.

Industry 4.0 – Tax credit and other measures to support companies – 2020

All companies, regardless of their legal form, the economic sector in which they operate and the accounting regime adopted, that make investments in activities such as research, innovation, and design, are the potential beneficiaries of the automatically recognised tax credit. Both companies resident in the territory of the State and permanent establishments in the State territory of non-resident companies are eligible to receive benefits.

2020 Budget Law News

In force since 1 January 2020, the new Budget Law (no. 160/2019) has made important changes to the rules on tax credits for investments in research, innovation, design and training, as well as significant innovations in respect to the Patent Box.
Awaiting the implementing decrees, which will regulate the final scope of the measures, a summary of the new tax credit benefit measures, which can be cumulated, is provided below:

  • Research and Development: 12% (up to 3 million euros) of the eligible cost (personnel, technical skills, etc.), net of other grants or contributions received for any reason for the same expenses
    • Innovation: 6% (up to 1.5 million euros) of the eligible cost (personnel, technical skills, etc.), net of other grants or contributions received for any reason for the same expenses. Rate of 10% in case of achievement of an ecological transition goal (circular economy) or Digital Innovation 4.0 goal.
  • Innovative design: 6% for the costs incurred for the design and aesthetic design activities carried out by companies operating in the textile and fashion, footwear, eyewear, goldsmith, furniture and furnishing and ceramics sectors, for the design and creation of new products and samples.
  • Training 4.0: 50%/40%/30% respectively for small/medium/large enterprises regarding eligible expenses (up to 300/250/250 thousand euros) related to training activities (cost of the personnel involved and partly also of the teachers) concerning "4.0 Technologies" (e.g. big data and data analysis, cloud computing, cyber security, virtual reality and augmented reality, 3D printing, etc.).
  • Patent Box: this is a subsidised taxation regime that concerns income deriving from the use of intellectual properties developed by the company.
    Find out more about the Patent Box

Legislative Decree no. 34 of 19 May 2020 introduced some important benefits for research and development activities in the areas of Southern Italy and in the regions affected by the seismic events of 2016 and 2017 (Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Lazio, Marche, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily and Umbria), differentiated according to company size:

  • Small Enterprises (less than 50 people, revenues < €10 million): tax credit for investments in R&D activities increased from 12% to 45%
  • Medium-sized Enterprises (more than 50 people, revenues > €10 million): tax credit for investments in R&D activities increased from 12% to 35%
  • Large Enterprises (more than 250 people, revenues > €50 million, assets > €43 million): tax credit for investments in R&D activities increased from 12% to 25%

Industry 4.0 – Tax credit for research activities – 2019 and previous years

The benefit measures remain in force for all companies that – regardless of their legal form, the economic sector in which they operate and the accounting regime adopted – between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2019 have invested in research and development activities, which include creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the wealth of knowledge, including that relating to humanity, culture and society, and to devise new applications of available knowledge.
The qualification and classification criteria reported in the Frascati Manual – of which CRSL edited the italian translation of chapters 1 and 2 (see link) – are in principle a source of interpretation of reference both for the definition of R&D activities and for the effects of the incentive framework.
The research and development activities may also have been carried out in fields other than the scientific and technological, for example, in the historical or sociological field, provided that, in general, the research and development activities have been aimed at acquiring new knowledge, at the growth of existing knowledge or its use for new applications.
The types of eligible expenses envisaged for the five-year period 2015–2019 are those relating to:

  • Personnel employed in research and development activities:
    • Employees (tax credit rate of 50% compared to the expenses incurred in the R&D project)
    • Personnel other than employees ( 25% rate)
  • Amortisation charges of acquisition or use costs of laboratory instruments and equipment ( 25% rate)
  • Technical and exclusive industrial competences (25% rate)
  • Purchase of materials, supplies and other similar products, directly used in research activities ( 25% rate).

The tax credit is recognised as a percentage of the expenses incurred in excess of the average of the same investments made in the three tax periods prior to the current one as at 31 December 2015 (three years 2012/2013/2014), i.e. in the shorter period of the date of incorporation.

Departments (Italian language)

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