F Iniciativas International Magazine #4 by Paulo Reis

FI NEWS 04 I N T E R N AT I O N A L M A G A Z I N E

J U LY 2 0 1 6

O PADRÃ&#x192;O DOS DE S COBRI ME N T O S / P O N T E 2 5 D E A B R I L - LI S B O A , P O R T U G A L

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Dear all, As we end this campaign, we are pleased to announce that the FI Family broke a lot of records and got some outstanding successes: Honour where honour is due, letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s start with Portugal. One year after the reorganization of the team, the growth and the FI spirit are back and we won the European Football Cup (thanks to France!) The cousin from Brazil experienced a turn of events as the Lei do Bem (name of the R&D Tax Credit) was threatened to disappear during the campaign following (wrong) budget cuts reasons. But it was finally saved in the nicest way as the campaign ends with a growth of more than 60%! The little brother from Chile keeps on developing within and beyond the borders as our local team has been leading the Colombian mission for one year so far and has managed to sign our first 3 new clients in Peru... The northern little brother from Canada is securing its position thanks to its efforts within an ultra-competitive market and keeps the doors towards North America open with new clients in the USA. Eventually, mom and dad as represented by France and Spain, which on the one hand, continue to break growth record and on the other hand manage to improve its organization and efficiency in order to remain undisputed leaders. It is from these pools of talent that we are preparing our future adventures, some of which were already launched (UK, etc.) and few others remain to be discovered in the next magazine! Parabens, Felicidades and Bravo to everyone.

Xavier Cazabon F. Iniciativas Worldwide

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INTERVIEW WITH

Paulo Reis

Executive Director F. Iniciativas Portugal FI Portugal is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year; therefore we wanted to cast light on the work of our teams located in Porto and Lisbon. FI Portugal offers its clients the wider range of R&D services among the subsidiaries of the group. Paulo Reis agreed to share with us its professional as well as personal experience throughout this interview. Obrigado Paulo!

1. First, please tell us more about the start of your career at FI Portugal. What are your responsibilities now? I began working at F. Iniciativas in April 2007 as junior technical consultant for R&D tax incentives. During the following years, due to our new service in National Grants (QREN), I also gained competences in grants projects. Besides all this and complementary to my activities as a technical consultant, I implemented the first blog for F. Iniciativas regarding R&D Tax incentives and National Grants, as well as, the development of thematic groups within LinkedIn regarding our services. At the end of 2013, due to the new European Framework – Horizon 2020 and the need to be closer to strategic partners such as Start-up accelerators, Universities and Technological Institutes, I embraced a new phase in FI Portugal as Head of New Business Development. This experience allowed me to participate in an international group within F. Iniciativas – International Grants – enabling me to meet fellow consultants from Spain and France with whom we have overcome some interesting and stimulating challenges. Our first big challenge was the Bird&Bird project since it required 5 countries (Portugal, Spain, France, Brazil and Canada) to work together towards a common objective. The second biggest challenge has been the SME Instrument since none of us had any experience with this type of grants instrument. In Portugal, we have had 6 projects approved which represents a landmark for FI Portugal as we were previously known as a Tax Incentive company and nowadays we are the market leaders in SME Instrument too.

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In June 2015, I was offered the position of Managing Director of FI Portugal, which I accepted with no hesitation. My primary motivation was the excellent group of people with whom I have the pleasure of working with during these past 7 years, as well as the need to develop a project that can provide FI Portugal with sustainable growth and the leadership of each market segment we are in!

2. As Executive Director, can you tell us what are the requirements and skills to hold this position?

“ LEADERSHIP / INTEGRITY

STRATEGIC THINKING AND EXECUTION - FORWARD THINKING COMMUNICATION AND PRESENTATION / CHANGEMANAGEMENT ABILITY TO EFFICIENTLY “READ” PEOPLE TEAM AND RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING / ABILITY TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS THROUGH TEAMWORK

‘‘

From Junior Consultant to Executive Director, Paulo gained extensive knowledge and experience of the European R&D financing throughout his carrier with FI.

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3. How did the financial crisis of 2007 affect your working conditions? And more generally, the R&D market in Portugal? The crisis had a harsh impact on everyone with a large repercussion on the working class and in the private sector because of the overall increase of taxes and more specifically heavy taxation on salaries provoked a significant loss in purchasing power. The Portuguese economy and as a consequence, Portuguese companies have historically relied heavily on internal consumption, thus, if the consumers don’t have purchasing power, the companies invest less in R&D and more in operational gains to decrease their cost structure. The good news for FI Portugal was that in 2011 a new law regulating SIFIDE was published, renaming it SIFIDE II and extending the R&D Tax Incentive with some minor improvements. This was seen as a clear message to the market that the government in power would maintain this type of incentive to help companies retrieve the investment they made in R&D. This was necessary for companies that want to invest in Portugal as well as for companies that define an annual tax strategy, providing them some assurance that the investments performed in a fiscal year could be recovered through R&D Tax Incentive.

4. Do you think Portuguese companies managed to overcome the crisis and now may take back their R&D investments? To answer this question, we have to factor in four landmarks: · Internationalization – there was a big push by the previous government to increase significantly the exports of Portuguese companies to other markets. In return this meant that companies had to invest in quality and design, cutting edge technological and advanced processes, qualified human resources and marketing/sales. · Universities – due to the financial crisis and public budget constraint, universities experienced a huge loss in funding. The natural course of action was to search funding elsewhere, namely, private companies. · Portugal 2020 – this is the new national framework with structural funds, for Innovation, R&D, and Internationalization/ Qualification. These funds will provide the much needed push in investments and recruitment.

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· Technological start-up scene – nowadays Portugal in considered as an international hub for start-ups, specifically Lisbon. Portuguese people with higher education degrees are known to possess a very high skill set and entrepreneurial mind set at a very competitive cost. We already have a unicorn (Start-up Company valued at over $1 billion) with Farfetch ($1.5 billion) and have numerous companies considered as jewels with worldwide recognition. Considering the aforesaid, I am confident that the Portuguese companies are heavily investing in R&D which is essential to be competitive at an international level. This is particularly visible through our client base since last year, the number of applications we have submitted for national grants has largely surpassed the overall figure we did in the whole campaign in the previous framework.

5. Since the last summer, FI Portugal is involved in FI Spain general management. What practical benefits came through that change? Due to the restructuring process that occurred last year in FI Portugal, a lot of work was done regarding turnover/billing, debt collections and human resources. Since both companies work within Iberian Market, the natural course of action was to emulate the successful Spanish best practices that have a proven track record. We have been mentored by a magnificent team, which have embraced this new challenge with an incredible sense of mission and have helped the Portuguese team adapt these new processes to the Portuguese market and workforce. So far, the result has largely exceeded all expectations as we have greatly improved our turnover/billing, our debt collections have increased considerably. Last but not least, we have three well-structured and highly motivated teams, Sales, Technical and Administration, which are on-track to exceed their objectives for this campaign.

6. What is the next step in developing FI Portugal? Are you thinking of creating new strategies/services? The next step for FI Portugal is to grow in both R&D Tax Incentive and National Grants services. The objective for this campaign was to establish a solid financial foundation and reorganize both technical and sales teams, enabling us to increase the quality of service to our client base as well as increase cross selling of services.

In the next campaign we will position FI Portugal more aggressively with regards to SIFIDE (R&D Tax Incentive), since due to the new national framework for grants (Portugal 2020), the Portuguese companies are investing significantly in Innovation and R&D in order to become more competitive. As for national grants, the framework program ends in 2020 so we have to leverage the available budget for the next two years and increase even more our client base so we can submit the maximum amount of applications (Innovation, R&D, and Internationalization/Qualification) and enhance the cross selling of other services considerably. As for new strategies, we are currently studying a new approach to Intangible Assets, Tax Benefits for ICT (investment in assets) and Project Management of R&D projects. Our motto: “Dear Optimist, Pessimist and Realist – While you all were arguing about the glass of wine, I DRANK IT! Sincerely, The OPPORTUNIST!”

FI Lisboa

7. Does FI Portugal plan to recruit new employees? And open new offices soon? Until now, our strategy has been to grow organically but the market has spoken! FI Portugal will most definitely grow through the North and Center of the country even if our current office in Porto doesn’t satisfy the urgent need for growth. We are currently evaluating a new location with bigger space that would reflect FI’s spirit and could be a showcase for our teams.

FI Porto

As for our teams, the sales department will most definitely increase in the short term as we are recruiting people for our office in Porto. Regarding the Technical Team, due to the huge number of applications processed for national grants, we recruited many project consultants and eventually a bigger sales turnover will lead to the hiring of new project consultants.

8. Finally, do you think Portugal will win the European Football Championship? Keeping within the spirit of fair play, I sincerely hope Spain and France do perform well in UEFA EURO 2016. However, I share the opinion of our national coach: we have to be ambitious and believe that winning is definitely a possibility, so yes I definitely believe we can WIN!

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Portugal

The edge of Europe Johan Beaurain - F. Iniciativas International

Portugal is the second biggest country of the Iberian Peninsula, located in Southwestern Europe and with a high-income advanced economy and very high living standards. Historically, the Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history and the longestlived of the modern European colonial empires. Nowadays, it is the 11th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican government. The Global Competitiveness Report for 2015-2016 placed Portugal on the 38th position on the economic index. Portuguese language is spoken about 230 million people around the world and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the official language of 9 countries. Politics Politics in Portugal takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic whereby the Prime Minister of Portugal is the head of government. AntĂłnio Costa is the 119th Prime Minister of Portugal. The President of Portugal is the executive head of state and has several significant political powers. The current President of Portugal is Mr Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, he was elected on March 9, 2016. Each president is elected to a five-year term whereas there is no limit to the number of terms as Prime Minister. 8 FI NEWS 4

Portugal has a multi-party system but since 1975, the party system has been dominated by the social democratic Socialist Party and the liberal-conservative Social Democratic Party. Economy For a few years, Portugal has emerged successfully from a severe economic slump: it has regained market access and unemployment has returned to pre-crisis levels. The unemployment rate is now around 12.2%. The major industries in Portugal include: petro chemistry and cement industries, machinery, automotive and shipbuilding industries, plastics and ceramics industries, textile, footwear and leather industries, wood and cork industries. Portugal is home to a number of notable leading companies with worldwide reputations such as Sonae IndĂşstria, the largest producer of wood-based panels in the world; Amorim, the world leader in cork

Key Figures Population: 10.374.822 (2014) Currency: Euro € GDP by sector: Agriculture: 2.4%, Industry: 23.1%, Services: 74.5% GDP growth: 1.5% (2016) GDP: $174.6 billion (2014) Unemployment rate: 12.4% (2016) Public Debt: 126% of GDP (2016) Number of companies: 1.1 million (2014) Corporate Tax Rate: 21% Minimum wage: €530 (2016) Average Wage: €984 (2016)

production; Cimpor, one of the world’s 10th largest producers of cement; EDP Renováveis, the 3rd largest producer of wind energy in the world and finally, TAP Portugal, one of the leading airlines linking Europe with Africa and Latin America. Springboard to Innovation Portugal’s research performance has improved significantly in recent years and has invested heavily in scientific human capital. However, public and business investments in R&D and innovation have suffered since 2009 owing to the financial crisis. Regarding Ecoinnovation performance, Portugal has made dramatic progress in renewable energy (mainly solar energy) and implemented practices of e-governance. It shows commitments to 20% reduction in energy consumption through innovative projects on electric vehicles, smart grids, renewable-based decentralized production (e.g. wind) and energy management of buildings. Portugal’s gross domestic expenditures on research and development are expected to total $4.30 billion in 2016, an increase of 10.6% over the $3.86 billion spent in 2014. It also represents a rise of 0.10% in terms of R&D over the GDP of the country.

Portuguese R&D Tax Credit SIFIDE II - Sistema de Incentivos Fiscais em Investigação e Desenvolvimento Empresarial II The incentive consists of a credit against the corporate tax liability for expenses incurred on R&D activities; it is both volume-based and incremental: • Base rate: 32.5% of the R&D expenses incurred during the tax year. • Incremental rate: 50% of qualified research expenses exceeding the average amount of the 2 prior years. If the tax liability for the year is insufficient to permit full utilization of the credit, any unused credit may be carried forward to each of the 8 taxable years following the unused credit year. The credit is not refundable. The governmental pre-approval is mandatory as the R&D projects must be approved by the “Agencia Nacional de Inovação”. FI NEWS 4

New subsidiary in the United Kingdom:

F. Initiatives Antoine Abbatucci - F. Iniciativas International

It has been more than a year and half now since we’ve started to look into the United Kingdom to analyse if there were potential for F. Iniciativas to offer its services. It is therefore a pleasure to announce, even if most of you already know, that the FI group now counts one new member: F. Initiatives Ltd We thought important to share with you some key elements about this new subsidiary. The market The United Kingdom is a leading country for R&D activities. Not only famous for its prestigious universities, UK businesses spend more than € 25 billion a year in R&D. However, the country remains behind when comparing their R&D spending on GDP with other advanced economies: 1,7% for the UK against an average of 2,37% with the OECD, which means the country has still progress to do in this aspect. This is why the government proposes attractive incentives since 2001 in order stimulate R&D investments and keep up with other developed countries, especially towards SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). In 2014, the cost of these incentives for the government was superior to € 2,5 billion for more than 18,000 claiming companies, making it one of the 5 largest tax incentive program in the world (with the USA, France, Canada and Japan).

The services As usual when opening a new market, we focus first on our core service, the management of the R&D Tax Credit, or so-called R&D Tax Relief in the UK. As there is no R&D tax incentive similar to another around the world, the UK introduced a scheme unique on its own, as it deals with 2 mechanisms instead of 1: The R&D Tax Relief for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs up to 500 employees) and the R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) for large companies: For SMEs NAME OF THE INCENTIVE MECHANISM BENEFIT ON R&D EXPENSES CASHBACK RETROACTIVITY

For Large Companies

R&D TAX RELIEF

RDEC

ENHANCED DEDUCTION

TAX CREDIT

26% TO 33,32 %

8,8%

YES

1 YEAR

As in Canada and France, the system operates under a Self-Assessment method, which means no certifications are required, but the tax administration (the HMRC) can audit the amounts declared afterwards. But this is not the only tool that the British government offers to support R&D as many grants are available at the national level as well as under the H2020 program, and a Patent Box reducing tax rates for incomes generated by patents registered in the UK is also available for UK based companies. Our team is working on being able to offer these services as well as soon as possible. The clients

Even if the market is growing (more companies claim every year), the incentive is mature and the competition fierce. The UK is known for its high level of consultancy companies, and our sector is not exempt of it, ranging from the Big 4 to small local consultants. However, FI built an international expertise and recognition, as well as a strong technical methodology which will be our keys to success in this new market.

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The best way to start the activity is to begin with our existing clients having R&D operations in the UK. Thanks to the recommendations sent by France and Spain, we can count today with more than a dozen of active clients. We count on each one of you to bring the subject to your clients and collect more recommendations to support F. Initiatives’ success!

In addition, we also started to prospect locally with the participation of Nicolas Le Mintier from the Paris offices Antoine Abbatucci from the international department and contracted a telemarketing company to help us generate more business meeting. We therefore expect to sign more clients in the coming months. Some of our first clients: EVERIS MAHLE FAURECIA DIANA SMART TRADE

ALTEN MCA STAPHYT ADEPP AUREXIA

The structure F. Initiatives does not employ yet full time people in the UK and count with the support of some of our best bilingual consultants from Spain and France. However, this configuration is only temporary as once the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portfolio gets big enough; the objective is to build a local team as it has been done with every FIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s subsidiaries. As for now, we are renting an office in the largest coworking space of London, located in a modern building right in the middle of the City, which gives us all the services and the flexibility we need. We wish the best successes to all the people involved in this new adventure. Find out more: www.f-initiatives.uk

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European Grants Successes Alex Alvarez â&#x20AC;&#x201C; F. Iniciativas Spain / Nicolas SainthĂŠrant â&#x20AC;&#x201C; F. Inicativas France

To everyone, Europa 2020 is widely known for being the European growth strategy of the next decade. By setting up this new program, the EU strives to reach a growth which would be smart (through investments efficiently focused on education, R&D and Innovation), sustainable (thanks to an economy driven by low carbon policy) and upright (with an emphasis on job creation and poverty reduction).

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Following the closure of the former EU framework program, Horizon 2020 was created in 2014 with the aim of contributing to reach R&D investments around 3% of GDP by 2020. However, the European R&D financing opportunities are not only centralized in this new framework program since F. Iniciativas is participating (with good results) in alternative European initiatives such as the Eurostars program which is dedicated to SMEs investing large resources in R&D. The fierce competition in Europe comes from the favorable financing conditions offered by these ones compared to national programs which results in low rates of return given their limited budget. Nevertheless, F. Iniciativas is currently improving its rates of return in these programs:

FI PORTUGAL

FI FRANCE

TOTAL PROJECTS

SME PHASE I SME PHASE II SME PHASE III

17 11 6

SUBMISSIONS

39 31 6

APPROVED

7 0 6

TOTAL PROJECTS

30 1 -

SUBMISSIONS

7 1 -

FI SPAIN

APPROVED

6 1 -

TOTAL PROJECTS

9 7 -

SUBMISSIONS

13 8 -

APPROVED

1 2 -

As reflected in our mission, vision and values, we strive for excellence in the management of our services and this leads us to a continuous improvement. To do so, the Grant teams of FI Portugal, France and Spain are permanently connected with the goal of, on the one hand, exchanging good practices, success cases as well as knowledge and, on the other hand, defining strategies which allow us to deliver excellent applications that would eventually maximize the financing capacities of our clients. As an example, we are very pleased to announce two major successful projects, the first one in Spain and the second one in France.

individual authentication through platform interaction traces analysis for e-learning purposes. The project budget has been evaluated to €1.13M globally, which represents about €500K of grant funding.

FI Spain obtained its first H2020 application approved this campaign with the Spanish client IDP which was the leader of a consortium made of 14 companies. The project’s main objective was the development of a methodology and ICT tools which will allow an advanced simulation of intermodal railway logistics platforms models. Around €3M of financing was granted for the execution of the project.

SOFFID has been identified in France through an internal quality review for a SME1 proposal written by Spain, it was the perfect partner for IGNITION FACTORY for whom we were setting up an Eurostars project. We organized a call conference with Miguel La Orden from FI Spain to make sure both partners were ready to work together and voilà!

The second success is related to an E-TRAC Eurostars project, with one client from France IGNITION FACTORY and one client from Spain, SOFFID/ BRUJULA. The project has been set up by Florian LAMOTTE from FI France. The project focuses on

Besides, we succeeded in joining the EEN (Enterprise Europe Network) of the EC that encourage companies, mostly SMEs, to boost their growth. This network is seen as the number one springboard for the access to European R&D financing programs. These are the perfect demonstrations of the successful international cooperation in action and the synergies of the FI group for the best of our clients.

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FI Online

Inés Martinez – F. Iniciativas Spain / Johan Beaurain - F. Iniciativas International

Objectives

Major Improvements

At the beginning of 2014, the necessity to change and redesign our corporate website became clear as the former online platform no longer met our needs and had limited functions. When it was launched in November 2014, the objective was to have a network providing a greater visibility and a more extensive promotion of our services to our clients and potential clients. The idea was to set up a new website based on the Drupal platform which would make our corporate website one of our best communication tools that would gather information about our: Services / Added Value / Human Resources / Public Relations / R&D News and publications.

The biggest challenge was to standardize the corporate webpages of the group and create a coherent and harmonious structure as well as design. Now, every site of the FI Group shares the same identity and colors that connect the webs together and provide us with a powerful network and also strengthen our corporate image.

Beyond its operational functions, the webpage needed to provide high level of usability in order to facilitate intuitive navigation and a better use of icons and images to distinguish each service. Besides, the new platform had to be designed according to our corporate colors (blue and white).

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As new features, we added a specific space dedicated to the HR with the presentation of our teams and we developed a tool which enables the display of available job positions and its subsequent application. In case, the internet users are looking for more information, we defined a “call to action” which enables them to send us a request regarding our services. The Communication department will process the request and dispatch it afterward to the related teams to give the client a quick and appropriate answer.

Thanks to the new web, we managed to enhance our communication through the display of press and online publications related to the R&D sector, we also centralized all our releases so that our clients get the latest update about tax legislation. Finally, the creation of the new section “Events and Conferences” enable to view every event in which F. INICIATIVAS participated recently and will organize soon. Microsite This is one of the biggest successes of the web project even if only Spain and Brazil are involved. We improved and increased the microsites of the Group and it helped to put F. INICIATIVAS on the market as the expert of the R&D tax incentives. Currently, there are 4 available microsites per country, each one of them is focused on a specific service and is aimed at providing the most accurate information to our clients. They can also contact directly our teams to start analyzing the eligibility of their projects to the related program.

LinkedIn LinkedIn is the most followed social (and professional) media of our network with a total of 31.900 followers which represents an increase of more than 8000 followers compared to the last year. Through this platform, we share R&D news, recent publications on our blogs and microsites. It also allows us to send invitations of our business conference organized throughout the year and e-mailing campaigns to our clients. FI COUNTRY

FOLLOWERS

PORTUGAL SPAIN FRANCE BRAZIL CANADA

1342 12168 737 5983 120

Twitter Twitter has gained significant recognition across the years; it has become more serious and is now considered as a reliable source for valuable information. More than 2400 people follow everyday our news feed to get the latest updates of the R&D sector, we also use Twitter as a communication tool during our events to ask live questions and create interactive debate. FI COUNTRY

FOLLOWERS

PORTUGAL SPAIN FRANCE /CANADA BRAZIL

204 836 1315 117

Social Networks F. INICIATIVAS’ online activity revolves around mainly two social Medias: LinkedIn and Twitter. Regarding our services, there are the most appropriate ones in terms of audience and target.

The statistics regarding our Linkedin and Twitter platform date back to June 2016. To support the group’s communication, do not hesitate to share our publications throught your network!

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FI Belgium Antoine Abbatucci - F. Iniciativas International

Until now, F. Iniciativasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; presence in Belgium was focused on the European Grants services where we could get informed on the new H2020 calls and get connected to institutional actors. These efforts led to our participation in the Bird & Bird project (see newsletter #3). But Belgium is not only home of the European institutions, it is also a country with an economy based on innovation as they invest 2,21% of their GDP on R&D, above the European average (2%). To further improve this investment in the future, the government offers a tax incentive under the mechanism of a partial withholding tax exemption for R&D staff, similar to what already exists in Spain and for which F. Iniciativas has a recognised expertise. This incentive enables companies to reduce up to 80% of the social security contributions paid for its researchers which ultimately lead to a reduction of approximatively 25% of the gross salary. This year, F.Iniciativas France signed its first 7 services to support its clients having eligible operations in Belgium to benefit from this incentive, and it has been a success so far! If any of your clients is interested, we count on you to inform them and give feedbacks as well as recommendations (which will be handled by JeanCharles Carrot-Dulac) to the international department. To be continuedâ&#x20AC;Ś

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Certifications in France Bastien Caillaut / Céline Rideau – F. Iniciativas France

FI France is proud to be the only consulting group in France to have ISO 9001 (2015) and ISO 27001 (2013) certifications delivered by the BSI (British Standards Institution), to be referenced by the “Médiation Inter-entreprises” and recognized by the OPQCM. (Professional Organization of Management Consulting Qualification)

And eventually, one month ago, FI France received the OPQCM certification for its professional services and management. This certification is based on the respect of ethics and the right match between skills, human, technical resources and the client’s projects as well as its satisfaction and the company’s financial sustainability.

In January 2016, FI France received the confirmation of the renewal of the ISO 9001 (2015) certification in reward for the company’s quality management policy. The ISO 9001 certification is delivered to businesses which commit to set up Quality’s internal process and maintain its continuous improvement. This award was followed by another one as FI France obtained the ISO 27001 (2013) certification for the successful set up of its Information Security Management System. FI Spain has also been granted these two international standards.

These awards confirm the quality of FI group expertise and good practices. This quadruple recognition is seen as another guarantee of confidence for the companies advised by F. Iniciativas in the financing of their innovation.

One month after, the “Médiation Inter-entreprises” (governmental strategic plan for companies) of the Ministry of Economy, Finances and Industry announced the referencing of FI France as consulting player for the French R&D and Innovation Tax Credit for the next 3 years. The “Médiation Inter-entreprises” is behind the creation of the said referencing and it allows the establishment of a quality charter on the R&D Tax Credit market.

Great Place to work For the second year in a row, FI is nominated among the Great Place to Work 2016. Thanks to the “Trust Index” survey of the GPTW Institute, FI France asked our colleagues about their working environment and well-being. One of the priorities of the group is to make sure that each employee can pursue both professional and personal development. We strike for the performance of everyone with an emphasis on the continuous improvement of our working methods and conditions.

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FI Years

na Martínez – F. Iniciativas Spain / Analía Maturana - F. Iniciativas Chile

FI France

The 15 years of FI were celebrated in France inside the Jean Bouin’s stadium, known as the home of Paris rugby team

A worldwide skype was organized between FI’s offices

FI French team got all dressed up for the 15th anniversary

FI’s own orchestra played some music during the cocktail dinner party

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FI Chile In Chile, Christmas has a different charm as it corresponds to the beginning of the summer

And as you can see, our Chilean colleagues were dressed accordingly to celebrate. Was Santa Claus is in line with the season!

For the Christmas dinner, the team of FI Chile met in the Don Carlos restaurant located in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Las Condesâ&#x20AC;? and specialized in Argentine beef. The meals were served with Chilean wine and inevitable Pisco Sour cocktails.

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FI Spain FI Spain celebration took place in the magnificent Hospital de Sant Pau, former hospital used now as a museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

FI Spanish teams posed for some colorful group photos

Both occasions were celebrated this year, Christmas and FIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 15 years. FI Spain consultant teams

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Suitcase Photo Challenge

The photo contest with your FI Suitcase is still on!!! We have extended the deadline to August, 31 so that our colleagues from all over the world can participate by taking pictures during their holidays. Remember that you can send us individual or group pictures of you and your suitcase.

And for those who like stunts, videos are also accepted. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget, be creative! Here is the mail address: figroup.challenge@f-iniciativas.net

Get your camera ready! FI NEWS 4

FI New offices Almudena Martínez – F. Iniciativas Spain / Analía Maturana - F. Iniciativas Chile

Madrid The new offices of FI are located downtown Madrid as they are a stone’s throw away from the Atocha Train Station. The building is split into four floors (including a basement and a terrace) with large and bright workplaces to house 160 FI Workers. On top of that, there will be a living-dining room as well as a fitness area with its own locker rooms to feel at home.

Valencia FI Spain keeps on expanding and settled its first office in Valencia at the beginning of the year. It is located in the center of the city and houses around ten FI workers. This sixth office of FI Spain helps the company provide its clients a better national coverage of the Southwest region (Valencia, Murcia and Andalusia). We wish them the best of success for this campaign!

Santiago de Chile For the fourth time since its opening in 2013, FI Chile moved to new offices as the subsidiary keeps on growing. The Chilean story began when 3 people coming from FI Spain were thrilled to venture into the little known market of this small country. While now, as the offices changed, the teams got bigger, counting with 17 skillful and dedicated people.

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Madrid

Valencia

Santiago de Chile

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FI Events Raquel Gonzalez – F. Iniciativas Spain / Céline Rideau - F. Iniciativas France

FI France FI France Christmas’ Tree For the first time in FI France, the Christmas’ tree event was organized. For this occasion, the children of our colleagues were at the office and take part in playful activities but most of all, they finally met Santa Claus. Community Day For the second year in a row, FI France organized the community day. This was the opportunity for our colleagues to help an association of their choice. The activities ranged from the packaging of christmas’ gifts to the participation in the Heroes’ race that is scheduled on June 19. « La Parisienne » Last September, 10 of our colleagues from FI France took part in the Paris race known as “La Parisienne” which run is 6,7 km long and is organized in the fight against breast cancer.

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FI Spain McDonald’s Charity Run Last October, FI Barcelona participated to the race called: “Una llar fora de la llar” organized by the Ronald McDonald House Charities. This foundation provides help to the families of sick children needing long-term care by providing them with free loan of flats. Solidarity campaign for Syria A few months ago, FI Spain launched a campaign to help Syrian Refugees. Thanks to the help of everyone, 2 baby carriers were obtained and sent to families in need. Among other examples of initiatives, there was the collection of sanitary products and donations. FI Football Team FI promotes sports activities and help finance part of the football inter-company championship of Madrid. The football team of FI won the double this year with their final victory in the league and the Cup. Congratulations!!

FI Portugal Bubble football in Lisboa Last month, the teams of FI Lisboa and Porto were gathered during one afternoon to participate in “Team Building” activity called “Bubble Futebol”. Giant air bubbles, one ball and enthusiastic people were the ingredients for this event. Everyone had a lot of fun trying to play this new version of football as it seems the perfect activity for those who like stunts!

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Global Trends in R&D

Tax Incentives Antoine Abbatucci - F. Iniciativas International

Many countries support their R&D investment through more or less generous tax incentives. The competition to attract such investment from multinationals and boost local SMEs to innovate and improve their competitiveness is each time stronger, and R&D tax incentives are each time more recognized as a key tool for such efforts. Here is some important news from the past year in the R&D tax incentives world which supports such conclusions: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) In a report published by the end of March 2016, the international institution praised the effects of tax incentives on the R&D investments and GDP’s growth, if sufficiently ambitious: “We find that fiscal incentives should reduce the firm’s cost of investing in R&D by 50% on average in advanced economies, to encourage firms to do more R&D. This would efficiently reap the benefits for the wider economy. Such fiscal incentive would increase R&D by approximately 40% compared with current levels and lift GDP in advanced economies by 5% in the long term.”

Italy: Starting from 2015 until 2019, Italy implemented a R&D tax Credit as a percentage (25-50%) over the R&D expenses exceeding the average spending of the 3 previous years. The Netherlands: Simplified, unified and improved its 2 existing R&D tax incentives into a single one. Austria: Raised its R&D tax credit rate from 10% to 12%. The USA: Made its R&D tax credit permanent from 2016 (it had to be renewed each year until 2015). Peru: Is implementing a new R&D tax incentive of 20% starting in 2016 (F.I Chile already found some clients to prepare the first claims in 2017)

MAP OF R&D TAX INCENTIVES MAXIMUM INTENSITY

World R&D tax incentives 0% - 5% 5% - 15% 15% - 25% +25%

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Congratulations

to Portugal for the victory in the

2016

CREDITS AND CONTACTS Articles Xavier Cazabon – Paulo Reis – Antoine Abbatucci – Alex Alvarez Almudena Martinez – Ines Martinez – Johan Beaurain – Bastien Caillaut Céline Rideau – Analia Maturana – Raquel Gonzalez Translation & Edition Antoine Abbatucci – Johan Beaurain – Pina Templier Thank you all for your participation For any suggestion or proposal of article for the next edition of the international newsletter, please contact the: International Department internationaldepartment@f-iniciativas.net +34 93 661 60 00

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