Blog›Corfo Certification ›How to prove your R&D team's capabilities to Corfo

In the project mode of the R&D Law, a good idea isn’t enough: Corfo checks that the company has sufficient equipment and qualified staff to carry it out. It’s one of the most avoidable reasons for rejection. See Why Corfo rejects projects.

What the regulation requires

Staff capabilities

The Certification Regulation requires at least one science or engineering professional and/or technician with demonstrable R&D experience in the 36 months before the application. It’s proven with:

• A CV showing that experience.
• Copies of academic degrees or qualifications.
• A copy of the employment or services contract with the company.

Material capabilities

A list of the infrastructure, equipment and instruments available for the project, with a justification of why they’re relevant.

How to show “R&D experience”

The requirement is experience in R&D, not just professional experience. Things that help prove it:

• Work on research or development projects, at the company, at universities or elsewhere.
• Publications, patents, postgraduate theses or technical reports.
• Work on projects funded by research or innovation programs.
• Developing products or processes that required solving non-trivial technical problems.

The CV should explicitly highlight that experience and its dates. A generic CV focused on job titles and commercial responsibilities proves nothing.

If you don’t have that person on your team

• Hire them before applying, even part-time, as long as they have a contract or services agreement with the company.
• Add a university or centre as a subcontractor within the project to complement your capabilities.
• Switch to the contract mode with a centre on Corfo’s Registry, where the centre provides the capabilities. See Intramural vs. extramural.

Common mistakes

1. A team on paper. Listing people who won’t actually work on the project. Corfo can audit this later, and the declared time allocation must be supportable.
2. Experience out of range. Relevant experience, but from more than 36 months ago.
3. Infrastructure that doesn’t fit. Equipment that exists but has nothing to do with the project’s activities.
4. Missing documents. Degrees or contracts not attached, which forces a request for more information and delays certification.

A good team also improves the project

Beyond the formal requirement, a team with real R&D experience knows how to frame hypotheses, design experiments and document results. That makes the application stronger and the project easier to audit. See How to document technical uncertainty.

This article is for information only and is not tax advice. Sources: Certification Regulation (Supreme Decree 102/2012) and Corfo’s FAQ.