Crédit d'Impôt Innovation (CII) - Innovation Tax Credit

CII complements CIR for SMEs, covering innovation expenses that don't qualify as R&D.

CII Overview

- Rate: 20% of eligible innovation expenses - Cap: €400,000 of expenses (€80,000 credit) - Target: Product design and prototyping for SMEs

Eligible Activities

Product Design: - New product conception - Significant improvements to existing products - User experience design - Industrial design

Prototyping: - Prototype creation and testing - Pilot production runs - Market testing phases

CII vs CIR

| Aspect | CIR (Research) | CII (Innovation) | |--------|----------------|------------------| | Rate | 30% | 20% | | Cap | €100M | €400K | | Activities | Technical R&D | Design & prototyping | | Company size | All | SMEs only | | Technical uncertainty | Required | Not required |

Strategy: Use CII for market-facing innovation, CIR for technical R&D.