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Apply for funding for projects of small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of artificial intelligence

If you are a small or medium-sized enterprise and want to carry out a new, unfinished project in the field of artificial intelligence, either alone or with partners from science and/or industry, you can receive funding under certain conditions.

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Procedure details

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funds projects for the research, development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) methods that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) want to carry out with partners from science and/or industry.

As an SME, you can receive funding for eligible project-related costs for the following projects, either alone or together with collaborative partners, if they demonstrate a significant degree of novelty compared to the current international state of the art in science and technology in the field of AI methods.

In addition, projects with further AI-related approaches in the area of research and development (R&D) can be funded.

As an SME, you can generally receive funding of up to 50 percent of the eligible project-related costs.

As a young company or start-up in the AI sector, you can receive pro rata funding for eligible project-related costs up to a maximum of EUR 100,000 per year. Under certain conditions, the funding can amount to up to 75 percent of the project-related costs.

If you do not meet all the criteria to be considered an SME, you can receive funding of up to 35 percent of the project-related costs under certain conditions.

Universities, research and scientific institutions or comparable institutions in the non-business sector can receive individual funding of up to 100% of the project-related costs or expenses as a partner of an SME.

Universities and university hospitals can receive a project allowance of 20 percent for non-commercial research projects in addition to the eligible expenditure financed by the BMBF.

They cannot receive funding for

  • the usual basic equipment,
  • a new development or adaptation of basic components used exclusively within the company or
  • the use of AI
    • in medicine,
    • for personnel applications,
    • in marketing or customer service,
    • in IT security,
    • in predictive maintenance or in robotic systems for care.
    • in robotic systems for care.

You may only use the results of the funded project in the Federal Republic of Germany or in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

There is no entitlement to the grant. Rather, the granting authority decides on the basis of its discretionary powers within the framework of the available budget funds.

Eligible applicants are

  • small and medium-sized enterprises. This means
    • They employ fewer than 250 employees,
    • have an annual turnover of no more than EUR 50 million or
    • had an annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 43 million in the previous financial year.
  • Companies that are not SMEs
  • universities
  • University and non-university research institutions
  • associations
  • associations
  • Other organizations with an interest in research and development (R&D)

Further requirements for start-ups:

  • You have completed the start-up phase, started productive business activities and can demonstrate economic performance on the market through corresponding customer projects or orders.
  • You have permanent employees with proven specialist knowledge in IT and proven expertise in the AI specialist areas to the required extent.
  • They are in a position to raise the equity contribution to be provided as part of the partial financing of the project from ongoing business operations.

In general:

  • You are carrying out a research and development project with partners from science or industry that meets the following requirements:
    • The focus and degree of novelty of the projects must be on intelligent approaches in which the AI to be used leads to significant added value compared to established processes.
    • The protection of personal data and privacy must be ensured and the social and cultural participation of individuals must be taken into account.
    • The projects must be SME-driven and their results must benefit Germany as a business location beyond the network.
    • They must have a sufficient data basis in terms of both quantity and quality.
    • The solutions to be developed should be easily transferable and applicable in different domains.
    • The project covers the following topics
      • Automated information processing
      • digital assistants: for example for people in dangerous or stressful environments, for the social sector (including disabled or elderly people, self-determined living, people in stressful situations)
      • Computer vision or image comprehension
      • Speech and text comprehension:
        • Domain-specific content
        • Target group-specific content, for example age, dialect, non-native speakers
        • privacy-by-design approaches for such systems
      • Data-driven systems and data engineering
      • Basic questions about intelligent systems:
        • For example, traceability and explainability of processes and systems for automated decision support and decision-making;
        • new approaches to creating transparency in AI systems.
    • The project originates from one of the domains
      • Renewable energies, ecology and environmental protection,
      • logistics, mobility and automotive,
      • production technologies, process control and automation,
      • innovative user-oriented services or
      • data and information and communication technology (ICT) industry.
  • Compliance with European and German data protection guidelines is mandatory. The new or further development of hardware is not eligible for funding.

  • Required Documents

    A project outline with the following information is required for the first stage of the procedure:

    • Cover sheet with project name, postal address, telephone and e-mail address of the submitter as well as information on total costs, funding requirements and duration
    • Motivation, initial question, objectives and social need of the planned project
    • State of the art of research and technology, novelty of the solution approach, own preliminary work, data basis, differentiation from previous and ongoing national and international research work
    • Description of the cooperation partners, in the case of companies including the own contribution to be made;
    • Description of your own solution approach, including the methods to be used
    • Time and labor planning with person months per partner
    • Work plan showing the contributions of all partners involved
    • tabular financing overview
    • Utilization plan with explanations of market potential, competitive situation, economic and scientific-technical prospects of success, connectivity, added value for Germany as a business location
    • Proof of the status of all participating SMEs by means of an SME declaration

The application procedure for funding projects in the research, development and use of artificial intelligence methods has 2 stages.

Stage 1: Project outline

  • As a project partner, you submit a joint project outline of a maximum of 10 A4 pages (1.5 line spacing, Arial font, minimum size 11 pt) to the project management organization Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. and via the PT-Outline portal.
  • In addition to preparing the project outline, you must print out the PT-Outline project sheet, sign it and send it by post to the project management organization (PT).
  • The project outline will be evaluated in a competitive procedure with the involvement of external experts, if necessary, according to the following criteria:
    • Level of innovation and scientific excellence of the approach/proposed solution under the given technical and economic boundary conditions, comprehensibility of the methods to be used;
    • Existence or creation of a sufficient data basis and feasibility of the approach for the specified time horizon with the specified quantity structure;
    • Network structure, competence profile and own preliminary work;
    • Utilization, relevance of the proposed solution for scientific and industrial applications.
  • If your project idea is selected, you will receive a positive written invitation to submit the application (stage 2).

Stage 2: Application

You submit your application for funding for a project in the research, development and use of artificial intelligence methods as follows:

  • The application is submitted electronically via the "easy-Online" portal.
  • Call up the "easy-Online" Internet portal. There you will be guided step by step through the application process.
  • Fill in all the fields required for the application and send it off with a qualified electronic signature.
  • If you do not have a qualified electronic signature, you must print out the application in addition to submitting it electronically, sign it and send it to the project management organization together with the other application documents in the next step.
  • Once the project management organization has received the application, you will receive a confirmation of receipt.
  • The responsible project manager will contact you during the processing of your application to clarify any queries.
  • Applications are evaluated and checked according to the following criteria:
    • Proof of SME status by means of an SME declaration and a significant proportion of the research work by the participating SME(s)
    • Implementation of any conditions from the first stage and compliance with the financial framework recommended for funding there
    • Quality of the detailed description of the solution concept, the work plan and the organization of the collaboration within the consortium
    • informative value of the detailed description of the exploitation plan, also with regard to the funding policy objectives of this funding measure
    • Eligibility of the requested funds;
    • Necessity and appropriateness of the requested funds
    • Comprehensibility of the explanations of the financing plan, in the case of companies including the presentation of the own contribution
  • You will receive a decision on your application.
  • In the event of a positive decision, you will receive a grant notification by post.

There are no costs.

You can submit your project outline to the BMBF's project management organization (DLR-PT) at any time. However, please note the evaluation deadline of 15.10.2023 for project outlines.

The submission deadline is not a cut-off deadline, but project outlines received after the above date may no longer be considered.

The assessment of the project outline usually takes 4 months after submission of the project outline. (4 Monate)

  • Administrative court action

Status: 29.11.2024
Editorially responsible for prodecure description: Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt
Source: Federal Portal