Croatian Competence Centre for Semiconductors (CROCCS)

The Croatian Competence Centre for Semiconductors (CROCCS) is a consortium of organisations from the academic, research and industrial sectors, focused on strengthening the capacities of the Republic of Croatia in the field of semiconductor technologies and chip design. The project is aimed at providing companies with specialised services, especially in the field of education for the design of chips and electronic circuits, their testing and the development of advanced technological solutions.

The project leader and consortium coordinator is the University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER), while project partners include Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek - Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek (FERIT), University of Split - Faculty of Science (PMFST), Innovation Centre Nikola Tesla (ICENT), Ruđer Bošković Institute (IRB), Institute of Physics (IFS) and KONČAR - Electrical Engineering Institute.

The total value of the project is EUR 2,486,654.32, with 50% of the funds provided from the Digital Europe Programme, while the remaining 50% is provided from the state budget of the Republic of Croatia through the Ministry of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation. 

The objective of the CROCCS project is to encourage the development of competencies in the field of chip design and semiconductor technologies, strengthen the capacity of the economy to apply advanced technologies and improve cooperation between academia and industry. The project specifically targets companies as end-users of competence centre services, while universities and research organisations play a key role in the development and implementation of project activities.

The state aid is granted in accordance with the applicable state aid rules, i.e. aid is granted to final beneficiaries for participation in the activities of the Centre. Companies are issued appropriate decisions on state aid. If final beneficiaries are entities not engaged in an economic activity (such as students, professors, postgraduate students, public research organisations or research and knowledge dissemination infrastructures), they are not subject to state aid rules i.e. the Aid Scheme.

Instructions for the procedure under the State Aid Scheme for the Activities of the Croatian Competence Centre for Semiconductors Intended for the Provision of Services to Companies elaborate in detail how CROCCS transfers grants and related benefits to entrepreneurs, in accordance with the established aid transfer mechanism. It also regulates the procedure for granting aid, including how applications are submitted, the verification of the eligibility of beneficiaries and the eligibility of applications and costs.