Press Release: State aid: Commission agrees to innovation aid scheme for German shipbuilders

The European Commission on 16 February 2005 approved a €27 million scheme in Germany to provide innovation aid to shipbuilding. The scheme is the first of its kind to be approved after the entry into force in January 2004 of the Commission's framework on state aid to shipbuilding (see IP/03/1607). The framework introduced revised rules on aid in support of innovation in the shipbuilding sector, in line with the goals of the Lisbon agenda, and more specifically the goals of the LeaderSHIP 2015 programme to improve the sector's competitiveness (see IP/03/1464).