Their main findings are that the average effects of R&D support among firms who obtained grants and/or subsidies are positive and significant in terms economic growth indicators, such as value added, sales revenue and number of employees. The estimated effects are larger for start-up firms than incumbent firms when the effects are measured as relative effects (in percentage points), but smaller when these effects are translated into level effects. However, they find no positive effects on return to assets or productivity for firms who received support compared with the control group.
The full working paper can be found here.