Securing subsidies with Intersoft Electronics

Over the last decade, Belgium and the European Union have sought to gradually and strategically modernise defence capabilities to respond to evolving security challenges within Europe and beyond. This includes increasing investments in upgrading military equipment, enhancing cyber defence capabilities, and improving interoperability with NATO allies. Grants and subsidies encourage companies to develop the equipment and services required. One such is Intersoft Electronics, a leading provider of advanced radar technology, radar test equipment, and services to armies and civil aviation companies across the world. “We spend €10 to €15 million on development every year. The European Commission and Belgian government support that. They ask us to develop products for the future and are ready to pay for it, at least in part, or support what we decide to build. Grants and subsidies are very important to enable us to anticipate what may come and look further into the future,” explains Wim De Nayer, Group CFO, Intersoft Electronics. 

But, he adds, “it’s a lot of work to develop and maintain new products. Every year, we kick off three or four new development projects and that takes a lot of time. Just the initiation process takes six months and that’s before the real development work starts. Without financial administrative support, it simply wouldn’t work. If we have to start from zero each time, explaining what we do, then it’s a massive amount of work. Our development experts don’t have the time to handle the grant process.” That’s where Intersoft Electronics relies on PwC for help. “We knew that the European Defence Fund (EDF), for example, would be relevant for our firm, but we had no idea how to start to apply. It was immediately clear that we couldn’t do it alone,” Wim De Nayer explains. 

He goes on, “we had lots of conversations with start-ups and smaller companies that wanted to support us, but they didn’t have the required size to be a consortium leader.” Applications for grants are either done individually or as part of a consortium. Having already worked with PwC for tax advice, and as a PwC alumnus himself, Wim De Nayer knew not just the company, but many people within it. “It quickly became clear that PwC’s one of the only companies—if not the only company—in Belgium able to deliver the support Intersoft Electronics needs to gain access to subsidies.”

PwC’s European network was extremely important to Intersoft Electronics as it’s predominantly European subsidies it’s looking for. And the company works a lot with the Greek military meaning our presence in Greece was extremely useful. “It’s all about connecting the dots, which PwC does. Each year, you need to decide whether you apply alone or as part of a consortium. PwC acts as a great sounding board about which subsidies are right for us and when is a good time to start. Also, PwC’s extremely adept at consortium building and stays up to date with the subsidy world, that moves very fast. The team knows the rules, that change every year and are different or interpreted differently in each European country. That’s something that I simply can’t keep on top of. And the team understands when to make things happen to make sure we don’t miss deadlines,” Wim De Nayer notes. 

In addition to PwC’s vast knowledge of the process and ability to build and lead consortia, Intersoft Electronics highly appreciated our technical writing skills. “Our technicians do the technical writing for customer projects, but don’t have the time or knowledge to do it for subsidy projects. Applying for European subsidies is very complex. That’s another area where PwC really helps us. They talk with our technical experts and then do the writing for us. It’s a big part of the work and something we can’t do. While we know the process for Belgian or Flemish subsidies as it’s more standardised, it’s still a lot of work,” Wim De Nayer says. He enthuses, “PwC alleviating the grant process is huge for us. Without PwC, we wouldn’t get the subsidy or we’d be delayed for years. And if you don’t request the subsidy before the project starts, you’re no longer eligible.”