FEADER 77.07 — Support for pilot projects, development of new products, practices, processes and techniques in the French outermost regions (RUP)

1. Objective of the scheme

77.07 finances collaborative innovation projects for the benefit of agricultural, agri-food, agroforestry and forestry businesses in Guadeloupe. The innovation may be an invention or the adaptation of an existing solution to tropical and island conditions: climate, environmental constraints, production costs, crop diversification or local processing. The project must lead to operational results that a business can use.

2. Projects supported

• Development of new agricultural or agri-food products.
• Development of processing and preservation processes.
• Trialling of new agronomic practices.
• Production tools and technologies adapted to the Guadeloupe context.
• Innovations in agroforestry and environmental protection.
• Testing of solutions for climate adaptation and farm resilience.
• Trialling of materials or equipment before their operational use.
• Demonstration of technologies in the final testing or validation phase.
• Dissemination of results and transfer of the innovation to the partner business.

3. Eligible beneficiaries

The partnership must bring together at least two distinct entities, including one final beneficiary business. Partners may be:

• Agricultural or agri-food businesses.
• Research bodies.
• Technical institutes and centres.
• Agricultural professional organisations.
• Agricultural education establishments.
• Chambers of commerce and trade.
• Associations.
• Local authorities and their groupings.
• Agroforestry and forestry stakeholders.

The final beneficiary business is not necessarily the administrative applicant for the application. A research body or technical structure may submit the application if the project meets the needs of a partner business and if the results are actually transferred to it.

4. Eligibility conditions

The application must demonstrate:

• The innovative nature of the project.
• The knowledge or solutions to be tested.
• A concrete commercial purpose.
• Consistency with the territory's needs.
• The central role of the final beneficiary business.
• The human, material and financial resources mobilised.
• The expected results and their use by the business.
• The ability to produce solutions that can be reused at regional scale.

A partnership agreement signed by all partners must be attached to the application on EURO-PAC. It must specify the roles, responsibilities, cooperation arrangements and the conditions for transferring the results.

The transfer of durable tangible or intangible assets to the final beneficiary business at the project's closure is an eligibility condition: it must be provided for in the agreement and actually carried out.

The total amount of planned expenses cannot exceed €500,000 excluding tax. Beneficiaries must also be up to date with their tax and social obligations.

5. Eligible expenses

• Materials directly related to the project.
• Products, materials and equipment to be trialled.
• Service provision and subcontracting.
• Contract staff directly assigned to the project.
• Involvement of researchers, experts and technicians.
• Trialling costs.
• Project facilitation and management.
• Dissemination of results.
• Travel directly necessary for the operation.
• Eligible depreciation, calculated pro rata to the duration and allocation to the project.

Specific rules:

• Staff must have a fixed assignment share of more than 15%.
• Tenured civil servants of the State civil service are excluded.
• Indirect costs may be calculated using a flat rate of 15% of eligible direct staff costs.
• Air and sea transport, taxis, trains and public transport are covered at actual cost, subject to supporting documents.
• Accommodation, meals and mileage allowances are subject to set scales.

Excluded expenses:

• Purchase of land or buildings.
• Supplies and consumables.
• Taxes relating to the 'octroi de mer'.
• Depreciation of materials already present before the project started.

6. Amounts and aid rates

• FEADER 2023–2027 budget: €3,000,000.
• Cap per application: €500,000 excluding tax.
• Maximum public aid rate: 100% for expenses other than productive investments.
• Maximum public aid rate: 80% for productive investments.
• FEADER co-financing: 85% of eligible public expenditure.

New investments intended for experimental purposes are not considered productive and may benefit from the maximum rate of 100%. Improvements made to an existing productive system fall under the maximum rate of 80%, provided the experimental and innovative approach is demonstrated. Depending on the nature of the project, a State aid or de minimis scheme may limit the amount actually granted.

The 85% FEADER co-financing applies to eligible public expenditure; it does not mean that the European Union alone finances 85% of the project's total cost.

7. Selection

Applications are examined as part of calls for projects. The minimum selection threshold is 225 points out of 300, equivalent to 75/100 on the weighted scoring grid.

Criteria and weighting:

• Innovative nature of the project and response to identified needs: 20.
• Suitability of human, material and financial resources: 20.
• Quality and formalisation of the partnership: 20.
• Potential for the final beneficiary business to use the results: 30.
• Ability to produce solutions that can be reused at regional scale: 10.

The most important criterion is the actual use of the results by the business. A purely academic experiment, with no identified economic beneficiary or operational transfer, will be difficult to match to the scheme.

8. Capital OS reading — matching

Positive signals:

• Agricultural or agri-food business with a clearly identified technical problem.
• Need to test a new product or process before it goes into production.
• Collaboration with a laboratory, technical centre or research body.
• Innovation adapted to the tropical climate or island constraints.
• Project to promote agricultural by-products, local processing or agroforestry.
• Measurable results that can be transferred to the partner business.

Pre-qualification questions:

1. Which business will actually benefit from the results?

2. What innovation needs to be tested or adapted?

3. Which technical or scientific partner is involved?

4. Have the two entities formalised their cooperation?

5. Is the transfer of equipment, software, data or other results provided for in the agreement?

6. Is the budget less than or equal to €500,000 excluding tax?

7. Does the project fall under an open call for projects?

Matching rule: distinguish 77.07 from 77.01. 77.07 targets collaborative innovation that must lead to a product, process or practice usable by a business; 77.01 covers the European innovation partnership and its own operation. Do not direct a project towards 77.07 without a clearly identified final beneficiary business.

9. Official sources

• Official FEADER Guadeloupe page — New products and practices, 77.07: https://www.europe-guadeloupe.fr/financement/feader-region-guadeloupe_nouveaux-produits-et-pratiques/
• Operational guidance notice 77.07 V1 (entered into force on 18 December 2025): https://www.europe-guadeloupe.fr/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Notice_77.07_IT16_0.0.0_V1_251218.pdf
• PSR FEADER Guadeloupe V6 (in force since 27 April 2026): https://www.europe-guadeloupe.fr/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PSR_FEADER_V6.pdf

10. Version caution

The operational guidance notice V1 relates to the PSR V5. The strategic data in this fact sheet — a budget of €3M, a cap of €500,000 excluding tax, aid rate and selection threshold — have been cross-checked against the PSR V6 in force. Calls for projects may specify additional conditions.