Writing WBSO applications in Twin
Twin writes WBSO applications for application year 2027 the way RVO wants to receive them: one document per project form, filled from your sources, exported as the PDF that the RVO portal imports. This article covers the basics. Three more articles cover the situations that come back every season: WBSO follow-up application: continuing last year's project, WBSO with several projects: one document per RVO form and Answering RVO's questions letter as a note in Twin.
One document, one RVO project form
A WBSO application consists of one or more projects, and RVO asks for a separate project form per project. In Twin that is one document per project, all inside one project for the client. There are four kinds of WBSO projects: software, a physical product, a physical production process and technical-scientific research. The physical product and the physical production process each exist in a variant without software and a variant with software, which makes six document types:
| Document type in Twin | RVO project form | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| WBSO Programmatuur | Ontwikkelingsproject programmatuur | Software: an engine, a platform or embedded software, described from the software-technical bottlenecks the developer runs into. |
| WBSO Fysiek product (excl. programmatuur) | Ontwikkelingsproject fysiek product of productieproces | A physical product without software of its own. |
| WBSO Fysiek product (incl. programmatuur) | Same form, with the software sections added | A physical product that also contains technically new software of its own. |
| WBSO Fysiek productieproces (excl. programmatuur) | Ontwikkelingsproject fysiek product of productieproces | A new or changed physical production process without software of its own. |
| WBSO Fysiek productieproces (incl. programmatuur) | Same form, with the software sections added | A physical production process whose control or measurement software is developed along with it. |
| WBSO Technisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek (TWO) | Technisch-wetenschappelijk onderzoek | Explanatory research into a technical phenomenon, with research questions instead of bottlenecks. |
RVO publishes three project forms: software, physical product or production process, and technical-scientific research. Twin has six document types for them, because the form for a physical product or production process comes in a variant without software and a variant with software. The six types are in every Twin organisation by default. If you do not see them in the New document dialog, let us know.
What the assistant does with your sources
Upload what the client gave you and what you prepared yourself: the intake notes, your own meeting notes, last year's application, the decision on the previous application including the S&O declaration, a status update. Twin reads them and proposes a project plan with the technical bottlenecks numbered TK1, TK2, ... and the solution directions numbered OR1, OR2, ..., so that every solution answers one bottleneck. You approve the plan before a single section is written. Each section then follows the RVO instruction for that field: what belongs in it, in what order, and how long it may be.
Twin's WBSO knowledge base is updated for 2027. Ask the assistant anything about the scheme and it answers from the RVO manual, the three project forms and the Prinsjesdag documents, with the source named. The parameters it knows: rates unchanged at 36%, 50% for starters and 16% above the first bracket; the flat-rate S&O hourly wage moving from 29 to 33 euros (proposed in the Fiscale verzamelwet 2027, still before the Tweede Kamer and therefore not final, committee debate on 29 September 2026); the pharmacy letter (farmaciebrief) ending on 1 January 2027; and the deadline of 20 December 2026 for an application period that starts on 1 January. The Prinsjesdag letter of 15 September 2026 confirms that 2027 is a stable year: the WBSO budget is 1,968 million euros, and the changes the minister announced for costs, prototypes and software land in 2028 or 2029.
What the download contains
Click Download in the document header and choose Latest version. Twin produces two files:
- The filled RVO project form (PDF), RVO's own form (version 1.81 today; RVO has announced more room in the form for 2027, and Twin follows the current version). Every field is filled from the matching section: company name, KvK number, project number, project name, type of development, project description, collaboration partners, start date, milestones (fasering werkzaamheden), update project, technical bottlenecks, solution directions, programming languages and tools for a software project, technical novelty, the research questions for a TWO project, the S&O hours, and the costs and expenses. This is the file that is imported in the RVO portal.
- The same text as a Word file, for reviewing with the client or keeping in your own dossier.
The field limits come from RVO's form itself and Twin keeps the text inside them. The long text fields hold 1,500 characters: project description, technical bottlenecks, solution directions, technical novelty, programming languages and tools, update project, and the research questions of a TWO project. A cost or expense description holds 500 characters, the project name 200 and the project number 25. The milestone table takes at most 10 lines of 120 characters each. Collaboration takes at most 5 parties, with 60 characters for the name, 60 for the location and 80 for the contribution. Should a section still run longer, the PDF field is cut at the limit while your document and the Word file keep the complete text.
The three situations, step by step
- Continuing last year's WBSO project: the follow-up application, from last year's PDF or from last year's Twin document. The start date and project number of the previous application stay, the application text stays as it was, and the progress per technical bottleneck goes into Update project.
- One client, several developments: the assistant establishes which developments are S&O and groups the developments that share a technical goal into one project. You confirm the split, and Twin writes one document per RVO form.
- Answering RVO's questions letter: upload the letter (or paste the text) into the conversation of the document, get a note with the literal questions and the possible answers, and export it to Word for whatever has to follow.
What happens in the RVO portal
Twin delivers the project forms. The application itself is submitted in the RVO portal (eLoket) by the S&O-inhoudingsplichtige, by the S&O-belastingplichtige, or by the consultant under an authorisation or chain authorisation ((keten)machtiging). These parts sit in the portal, not in the document:
- The PDF project form is imported per project.
- The S&O hours are entered per project, and the portal totals them for the application period.
- The cost option applies to the whole application: flat rate (forfait) or actual costs and expenses. Twin fills the four cost fields only when the sources contain a budget for actual costs; under the flat rate the descriptions read "Niet van toepassing" and the amount fields stay empty, as RVO's form asks.
- The S&O employees are added in the portal.
- For an application period that starts on 1 January 2027, the deadline is 20 December 2026, a Sunday. RVO's helpdesk is closed at the weekend.
Good to know
- A document keeps the writing instructions of the moment you create it. Documents you started before the update of 18 September 2026 still follow the 2026 instructions; create a new document for a 2027 application (for a follow-up application in a new project, see WBSO follow-up application: continuing last year's project).
- The assistant does not invent facts. When a source does not answer a question, it says so and asks you; that is deliberate, not a gap.
See also Starting a document, Sources: what Twin writes from and Exporting your document.