RTE Grant for Data-Driven Reporting and Data Exchange Software Development
We support companies in creating new business software or enhancing existing solutions to exchange data securely, in a common format and in real time.
The resulting software must allow businesses and public authorities to exchange data seamlessly. The development must follow the principles of real-time economy (RTE): data flows automatically, in a clear format and reaches the right people at the right time.
Support can be applied for on an ongoing basis until the budget is reached.
The Grant for implementing or linking software is one of the forms of aid granted under the ‘Supporting the development of enterprise digitalisation, solutions of the real-time economy and use cases of the data economy’ provision (activity 3).
Please note that you can only apply for one grant for one activity at a time.
See also:
Who is the grant intended for?
- Support is available to companies entered in the Estonian Commercial Register
- The project activities must involve a cooperation partner or business partner
- The cooperation partner is a state agency or a local authority or its agency. A cooperation partner must be involved when developing data-driven reporting. The public-sector partner will help to ensure that the solution developed meets the actual needs, is in line with the principles of the national digital architecture and is suitable for interfacing with central data exchange solutions (e.g. the X-tee data exchange layer, the data consent service). The project costs of the cooperation partner are not eligible for support, but the partner’s substantive contribution is mandatory and critical to the project. This will help to ensure that the resulting solution is fit for purpose and can be implemented.
- The business partner can be a private company and its costs are eligible. The partner must play a role that supports the achievement of the project objectives and must ensure a substantive contribution to the project activities as a minimum.
What kind of development is eligible for the grant?
The support can be used to develop a data-driven reporting solution or to upgrade existing software to enable secure and standardised data exchange and to comply with the principles of real-time economy.
The software solution to be developed must be usable by several companies and have a broader impact, supporting the uptake of RTE solutions. This means that the development cannot be aimed at meeting the needs of a single company.
The development must comply with the following conditions:
- The software development must enable secure data exchange. This means that the system can send, receive and process machine-readable and standardised data, which is timestamped or otherwise securely traceable, via X-tee or another secure data exchange platform.
- Where it is necessary to process personal data, the individual must have the possibility to give consent. Alternatively, it must be possible to interface the software with the data consent service of the Information System Authority, so that an individual or a company can manage the sharing of their data with other information systems.
- The software development must comply with the principles of real-time economy. This means that the system can automatically exchange structured, standardised and machine-readable data in real time or near real time.
- The development can also be a complete solution for data-driven reporting. In such case, it is based on the taxonomy of data-driven reporting and covers the entire reporting process from the generation of the data to its submission to the state agency or local authority.
- The development of a comprehensive data-driven reporting solution must involve cooperation partners. These are a state agency or a local authority, including its agency, and at least three test users as providers of reporting data. Exception: if the applicant provides the data themselves and does not collect it from others.
- For other software solutions (not covered by points 4 and 5), the development must involve at least one partner and at least three testing end-users who are not partners in the project.
Eligible expenses and state aid categories
The support can be used for:
- wages and salaries paid for the project-related development activities and the state taxes and contributions payable thereon
- remuneration paid under contracts under the law of obligations for project-related activities and remuneration paid for project management to beneficiaries of de minimis aid, and the state taxes and contributions payable thereon
- the cost of project-related services purchased on market conditions
- the cost of project-related licensed knowledge and patents
- the cost of outsourced consultancy and other similar project-related services
In the case of de minimis aid, eligible costs also include:
- wages and salaries paid for project management (either under an employment contract or a contract under the law of obligations subject to the same taxes as wages and salaries) and the state taxes and contributions payable thereon
- marketing-related expenses
- the cost of drawing up a digitisation strategy, incurred no earlier than 3 (three) months before the application is submitted
- costs incurred before the submission of the application to the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency
Important: The applicant must not commence project-related activities or assume obligations for carrying out such activities before submitting an application to the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency, except for the cost of drawing up a digitisation strategy. - the costs of the cooperation partner
- VAT
- bank guarantees, financial and banking charges
- costs paid in cash
- state fees
- holiday pay and sickness benefits
- transactions between associated persons as set out in subsection 8 (1) of the Income Tax Act
- costs that are unrelated to the supported activities or are unjustified and irrelevant for the project
The rate of support depends on the type of aid chosen, the activity and the size of the enterprise.
For de minimis aid, the maximum rate of support is 50% of the eligible costs of the project. The applicant must not have received more than 300,000 euros of de minimis aid over the past three years in total. The de minimis aid balance is calculated on a group basis. Check the balance of your company’s de minimis aid.
The rate of support granted under the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) depends on the size of the company and the type of state aid chosen:
- Article 25 (development activities)
Large enterprise: up to 25% of eligible costs
Medium-sized enterprise: up to 35%
Small enterprise: up to 45% - Article 18 (consultancy)
Small and medium-sized enterprises: up to 50% of eligible costs
No support is granted to large enterprises under this Article
If the activity is supported under both the GBER and the de minimis Regulation, the support rate provided for in the GBER is applied.
What will change in my company?
New software introduced
Increased productivity
Higher added value
Involvement of a partner and test users
One of the key principles of the measure is that the solutions developed should be practical and create value for both business and the public sector. Therefore, these are collaborative projects where the applicant does not act alone, but with at least one public sector or one private sector partner and several test users.
It is mandatory to involve:
- A cooperation partner – a state agency or local authority or its agency
A cooperation partner is a public sector organisation that effectively contributes to the project and to whose systems or services the solution will be linked in practice.
The public-sector partner will help to ensure that the solution developed meets the actual needs, is in line with the principles of the national digital architecture and is suitable for interfacing with central data exchange solutions (e.g. the X-tee data exchange layer, the data consent service).
The project costs of the cooperation partner are not eligible for support, but the partner’s substantive contribution is mandatory and critical to the project. This will help to ensure that the resulting solution is fit for purpose and can be implemented. - A partner – a company registered in the Estonian Commercial Register
The partner can be a private company and its costs are eligible. The partner must play a role that supports the achievement of the project objectives and must ensure a substantive contribution to the project activities as a minimum. - At least 3 (three) providers of reporting data, i.e. test users
The test users are companies or organisations that can try out the solution being developed in the course of the project. This is important to ensure that the solution does not remain company-specific, but is scalable and realistically applicable to other environments.
The role of test users in a project includes, for example:
• testing the functionality of the software under development
• assessing ease of use and workflows
• providing feedback to improve the solution
• validating whether the solution works in different companies/organisations
• preparing a test report or feedback summary that provides input for the final design of the solution
If the applicant themselves is the provider of reporting data and does not separately collect data from other enterprises, there is no need to involve test users.
Assistance for applicant
Before reaching out, please review the support conditions.
For quick communication, you can find the chatbot in the bottom right corner of the page.
Customer Service
+372 627 9700
[email protected]
Read more about the terms and conditions of the grant in the grant regulation:
Read more about applying grant in Estonian here
The application can be compiled and submitted in the online E-toetus environment
Grant can be applied only in Estonian language.
Find more information about the previous projects and the grants they received here:
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