In its Regional Plan for Economic Development of Innovation and Internationalisation (SRDEEII) and its Regional Schema of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (SRESRI), the region affirms its desire to make Normandy a land of business and research and to use innovation as a lever for growth and competitiveness. The mobilisation of ERDF resources will serve this strategy, specifically through the priorities of axis 1 of the ERDF 2014-2020 programming and in line with S3. In a context where the underinvestment of French companies, particularly in RDI projects, is a barrier to our competitiveness, the level of innovation of low-standard companies is low in relation to key innovation indicators. At the same time, SMEs face difficulties in financing their innovative projects as they are costly and risky investments. More broadly, the supply of financing is, in particular, insufficient for the development projects of growing TPEs/SMEs. The ex-ante evaluation thus identifies as crucial funding needs for development and innovation projects, and specifically on risky projects, large amounts and for which the recovery time is long. It also points out that low-Norman companies are plebisciating public schemes that allow leverage on traditional financing, without resorting to opening up capital. This situation is under optimal to enable Norman companies to grow and anticipate market developments. It is also incompatible with the region’s economic and innovation strategy. It is therefore necessary to step up financial tools and in particular dedicated to innovation to support businesses in an R & D & I approach. Cooperation between the Region and EPIC Bpifrance will create a ERDF Innovation Loan Fund (IFF) to support companies by financing their RDI projects in the form of zero-rate loans, with bank debt being the preferred means of financing SMEs. As the competitiveness and innovation challenge of SMEs requires concerted action, the fund will mobilise ERDF and Bpifrance resources, with a leverage effect on private funding to fill the volumes of non-optimal financing for business innovation projects. The IFP will provide the Region with a complementary response to the ERDF regional offer in the form of a grant. It will help to address the lack of funding for innovative projects by companies, without opening up capital and with rapid provision of funds to meet the short investment delays of innovative projects in order to reach the market before competition. The intervention of the IFP will also be consistent with other forms of business intervention, in particular the Regional Research Innovation Fund and Bpifrance’s national and European tools. To ensure this readability, the Regional Directorate of Bpifrance will ensure that the instrument is implemented in close proximity to the services of the Region. The Fund offers ERDF Innovation Loans at zero rate, without real security, no personal guarantee or education costs, from EUR 100 000 to EUR 1 000 000, between 5 and 8 years, including a delay of repayment of up to three years for companies in Basse-Normandie whose consolidated workforce is less than 2000 persons implementing an RDI project.The RDI project is systematically financed by ERDF and Bpifrance resources. The aid rate varies between 40 % and 60 % of the amount of eligible expenditure, seeking the leverage effect of the public funding provided.