The total budget of the BBI JU amounts to €3.7 billion, of which €2.7 billion has been committed by industry. The private contribution consists mainly of in-kind1 (contribution which is paid in goods and/or services rather than cash) contributions to operational costs (IKOP2), as well as Additional Activities (IKAA3) (e.g. investments in demo and flagship infrastructure).
During the budget negotiations for the establishment of the BBI JU, the industry also committed in cash contributions, with the understanding that such in cash contributions would take place at project level and that all industry commitments would be taken into account. However, the actual BBI JU Regulation, Council Regulation 560/2014, did not include the option of in cash contribution at project level.
For industry, financial contribution at programme level is commercially unviable because it does not offer any guaranteed benefit in exchange (e.g. results of the projects and related intellectual property rights) and it could benefit competitors participating in projects funded by the BBI JU.
Therefore, a solution was sought among the BBI JU founding partners and an amendment of the Regulation was formally proposed by the European Commission in February 2017. Following positive recommendations from the European Parliament, the EU Council approved Amending Regulation 2018/121 on 23 January 2018 to facilitate the modalities of the industry financial contributions as from the 2018 Call onwards and make in cash contributions possible at project level.
1 Contribution which is paid in goods and/or services rather than cash
2 IKOP are costs incurred in the implementation of the project not reimbursed by BBI JU or any other EU programme
3 IKAAs are investments outside the work plan, i.e. not directly linked with the call for proposals