Easy to Read
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Index
Easy to Read
For German
research institutions
Easy to Read
For German
research institutions
Easy to Read
For German
research institutions
Easy to Read
For German
research institutions
Easy to Read
For German
research institutions

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Focus on SME

BMBF

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are the backbone of Germany’s economy. In order to strengthen their innovation capacity and competitiveness, Germany offers a lot of support for SME to establish collaborations with international partners. SME are not only eligible to participate in most transnational calls for R&D projects. There are also dedicated funding programmes to foster cross-border collaborations of innovative SME. Two examples are Eurostars and ZIM International.

Eurostars: the largest international funding programme for SME

Eurostars is the largest international funding programme to support collaborative and market-driven R&D projects of innovative SME and their partners. The programme is open to projects in any technological area that aim at developing new products, processes or services. Currently, 37 countries from Europe and beyond are participating in Eurostars, including e.g. Canada, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea. The programme provides a well-established application procedure and a rapid international expert evaluation. There are usually two cut-off dates per year by which applications can be submitted. German participants in Eurostars projects are funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Eurostars is implemented by the international innovation network Eureka and is a part of the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs. This partnership is co-funded by the European Union through Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Besides Eurostars, the European Partnership on Innovative SMEs provides various funding and support schemes for SME, such as the Innowwide programme which offers grants to assess the viability of accessing new international markets.

ZIM: Germany’s main innovation programme for SME is open to the world

ZIM is Germany’s largest programme to foster the innovation capacity of SME. ZIM is open to all fields of technology thus giving ample freedom to SME to design their projects according to their specific needs. ZIM is a national programme. Yet, it also features various possibilities for transnational projects such as bilateral and multilateral calls with over 20 countries or regions around the globe, including e.g. Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Japan. As an additional incentive, German SME can benefit from an increased maximum funding rate if they cooperate with international partners. The ZIM programme is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

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