What is the Dutch Innovation Credit, and who can get it?

The Innovation Credit is a loan from RVO, not a grant. It pays part of the cost of developing a new product, process or service, and the business portal calls it risk-bearing: you repay it if the development succeeds. The company has to be established in the Netherlands, and the project has to be large enough.

This guide is for a founder who has found the Innovatiekrediet, the Dutch Innovation Credit, on a list of Dutch funding and wants to know what it actually is. It is run by RVO, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, and it sits between a subsidy and an investment.

The short version: it is debt that behaves a little like equity. The state lends part of the development budget, and if the technology does not work, the loan does not have to come back in the ordinary way. That single feature explains most of the conditions around it.

What is the Innovation Credit?

A loan for a development project that RVO judges on its chance of success. The Dutch business portal describes it as risk-bearing, which it explains as repaying the loan only when the development is successful. It is meant for new products, processes or services that can reach a market.

RVO splits the money into two kinds of project. A technical development project builds something new, and a clinical development project runs the trials a medical product needs. They carry different ceilings, which is the clearest sign that the scheme is written for deep technology rather than for a marketing budget.

Sources:
Business.gov.nl, Innovation Credit Scheme
Regeling nationale EZ-, LVVN- en KGG-subsidies, article 3.9.4 (in Dutch)

Who can get it?

According to business.gov.nl, a business established in the Netherlands, with a project that is innovative and challenging, that research shows is feasible, and that leads to a product, process or service on the market within five years. The project has to cost at least EUR 150,000, and at least 55% of the cost has to come from somewhere else.

That last condition is the one foreign founders read twice. The credit is a co-financier, not a first backer. The rest of the budget can come from the company's own cash, from investors, or from another financier, and RVO also asks for a buffer for setbacks, because a development project that runs out of money halfway helps nobody.

The requirement to be established in the Netherlands is a hard line rather than a preference. A parent company in Seoul, Tokyo or Taipei cannot apply directly, while a Dutch company owned by that parent can. Which scheme draws which line is mapped in which government grants a startup can get.

Sources:
Business.gov.nl, Innovation Credit Scheme
Regeling nationale EZ-, LVVN- en KGG-subsidies, article 3.9.7 (in Dutch)

How much of the project does it cover?

According to the Dutch subsidy regulation, the credit is 25% of the eligible costs, raised by 10 percentage points for a medium-sized company and by 20 percentage points for a small one. Working together with another party can add further percentage points. The credit is at most EUR 5 million for a clinical development project and at most EUR 10 million for a technical one.

So a small company is looking at a credit of well under half the budget, and the ceiling is a ceiling, not a target. RVO sets the interest on the credit each year in a separate ministerial decision, so the rate is not fixed in the regulation itself and founders read it off the scheme page for the year they apply.

Source: Regeling nationale EZ-, LVVN- en KGG-subsidies, articles 3.9.3, 3.9.4 and 3.9.9 (in Dutch)

When can you apply?

At any time, but not into an open till. RVO hands out the budget in the order applications arrive, against a ceiling set for the period. There is no cut-off date to wait for, which is the opposite of the European route, and it also means a late application in a busy year can meet an empty budget.

Applications are assessed one by one on the quality of the plan, so the queue is not a lottery. Founders usually treat the preparation, not the deadline, as the binding constraint.

Source: Regeling nationale EZ-, LVVN- en KGG-subsidies, article 3.9.5 (in Dutch)

What does a loan mean for your next round?

It means the money does not cost you shares, and it does sit on your balance sheet. An investor looking at the company later sees an obligation to the Dutch state next to the cash, together with the terms attached to it. That is a different conversation from a tax credit, which leaves no trace on the balance sheet at all.

It also changes who carries the technical risk in the early years. The credit is designed so that the state carries part of it, which is exactly the part a seed investor is usually least willing to price. Regional public investors work the other way around and take shares instead, which is set out in which regional development fund fits your company.

Source: Business.gov.nl, Innovation Credit Scheme

Where the Innovation Credit fits in a move to Europe

It arrives later than the tax schemes and earlier than most equity. It needs a Dutch company, a technical plan somebody has already tested, and a budget that is mostly financed from elsewhere. Why money that does not cost you shares usually comes before a funding round is explained in Equity-free money first, and why deep technology lands differently is in the deep-tech landing gap.

Sources

1. Business.gov.nl, Innovation Credit Scheme, checked 22 September 2026
2. Regeling nationale EZ-, LVVN- en KGG-subsidies, title 3.9 Innovatiekredieten (in Dutch), checked 22 September 2026
3. Business.gov.nl, Getting financing for your innovation, checked 22 September 2026

Checked on 22 September 2026. This page is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Rules change: check the official source, or ask an adviser, before you act on it.