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VLAIO R&D feasibility study (O&O haalbaarheidsstudie)

VLAIO grant to companies active in Flanders for the technical or scientific feasibility study that precedes an innovation project, on a rolling basis.

At a glance

What it is worth
Up to €50,000of benefit per company · 40% of the eligible spend
Where it stands
Open with no deadline, until the fund runs out
Stacks with other aid
Stackable up to a ceiling
Which companies
All companies, large ones included
Who can apply
Companies of any size, non-profits and public-law bodies with an economic activity, with activities, even future ones, in Flanders, for a study preparing a project.
How to apply
Application to VLAIO at any time of the year, with measurable objectives, a business case and the budget on the official template.
Who funds it
Regional · Flanders, Belgium
Official source
VLAIO · Last checked: 26 September 2026

What it funds

VLAIO funds the study that comes before an innovative project: the technical or scientific research that establishes whether an idea can become an innovation project. What matters for my work is the destination constraint: the study must prepare a follow-up path that VLAIO itself can support, with benefits that can be exploited in Flanders, so a study that ends with itself stays out. The per-partner ceiling and the overall cap on a joint study are two different quantities, and confusing them is the mistake almost every listing repeats.

Requirements and what is left out

  • Anyone without activities in Flanders: it takes legal personality and activities, even future ones, in the Flemish Region, as the VLAIO guide states.
  • Anyone seeking funds to develop software with no research question: the study admits personnel, operating and external costs plus project-related depreciation, but only insofar as they resolve a technical or scientific uncertainty. The detail is on the eligible-costs page.
  • Anyone filing a study with no follow-up: with no subsequent innovation path that VLAIO can support, the application has no object.
  • Anyone aiming below the threshold: the official page states a minimum entry grant, so too small a study stays out.
  • Anyone filing the study jointly: beside the per-partner ceiling, the programme sets an overall cap per study, stated on the official page.
  • On combining aid, VLAIO takes into account other public aid received for the same costs, which are never subsidized twice, as the cumulation page states.
  • Anyone who already received other VLAIO aid this year: there is a yearly ceiling per applicant, higher for collaborative projects, stated on the official page.

How to apply

  1. File the application with VLAIO at any time of the year: there are no windows.
  2. Define specific, measurable objectives with a convincing business case: the assessment starts there.
  3. Fill in the budget on the spreadsheet template VLAIO provides: only accepted costs enter the calculation.

During the review you talk with the VLAIO project advisor handling the file.

What this budget builds

This is the budget for the question that decides whether a project is born: does the idea hold technically, and at what cost? I build the feasibility study that answers with data, a prototype running on real data and producing the technical and economic figures that decide whether to move to development. If the answer is no, it is known before the whole project has been funded.

This entry is informational and is not advice: I do not handle grant applications, and before committing to a purchase it is worth reading the official source above or talking to whoever files the application.

Not sure where to start? Tell me what you want to solve and I will tell you what can be built, and which incentives cover it.

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