FIRST Entreprise

FIRST Entreprise

Supports Walloon companies through FIRST Entreprise to hire researchers for early innovation work.

FIRST Entreprise is a continuous, rolling grant from SPW Recherche that subsidizes Walloon companies hiring a researcher for a 12-to-24-month industrial research project combined with a mandatory training placement at a recognised research centre. Applications are accepted year-round through a guichet system and SPW Recherche guarantees a funding decision within three months of receiving a complete application file — one of the fastest turnaround commitments in Wallonia's R&D support landscape. The programme offers three distinct variants to cover different project profiles: the standard track for domestic placements, the International variant for researchers placed at a research centre in an EU member state or cooperation-agreement country, and the Docteur variant for companies hiring a researcher who holds a doctorate in Sciences, Applied Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, Medicine, or Veterinary Medicine.

Eligibility is restricted to for-profit enterprises with an established operating site in Wallonia that are compliant with VAT, ONSS social-security, and regional financial obligations. Universities, research institutes, and non-profit organisations cannot apply directly. The researcher is employed by and contracted to the company for the project's full duration, with a portion of their time spent on-site at the partnering research centre for technology transfer and training purposes. Subsidy rates are not publicly listed in the programme summary and are provided in the application guidance documents available through SPW Recherche's portal.

To use the three-month decision guarantee effectively, applicants should submit a complete dossier on first filing — missing documents reset the clock. Companies should select the variant that best matches both the researcher's academic profile and the geographic scope of the research-centre partnership before beginning the application, as switching variants mid-process is not supported.