Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies were in receipt of EU research and innovation funding in (a) the UK and (b) Wales in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Companies in the UK can receive research and innovation funding through two different EU programmes: Horizon 2020 and the European Regional Development Fund.

Between January 2014 and September 2016 1,011 UK companies were awarded funding from Horizon 2020 with a total value of €564m. Of this total, 25 companies are from Wales who have been awarded €10m.

Support for companies for Research and Innovation from the European Regional Development Fund is most often provided through intermediaries such as universities and knowledge transfer centres and it is not possible to say how many companies have received funding until projects have been completed and the outputs verified. As most projects last for about three years, it is too early to give a figure from the 2014-2020 programmes.