Research and innovation funding

From the project idea all the way to innovation: Your key to success

Bavaria is a leading centre of research and technology – not only within Germany, but also on a European scale. It has achieved this status primarily due to the scores of highly-skilled universities, businesses and organisations who are striving to break new ground in the field of research and innovation (R&I). In order to sustain and build on this leading position, Bavaria offers a number of funding and support programmes.

The Bavarian Research and Innovation Agency’s goal is to provide the region’s key players with the best possible support when it comes to turning their ideas into a reality. To achieve this, we allocate funding and provide advice and support regarding applications for national and international (primarily European) programmes.

Identifying the ideal funding programme

Each R&I project is unique and has its own set of underlying circumstances. For each planned project, we seek out the ideal funding tool and advise applicants on the relevant terms and conditions, provided that at least one of the participants is from Bavaria.

Made in Bavaria – We provide the funds

As a project administrator and funding body, we are responsible for issuing funds from programmes for universities and businesses in Bavaria. Organisations from outside of Bavaria may also benefit from this funding but the application must always be submitted by an organisation within Bavaria (e.g. for the BayIntAn funding programme).

National and international funding

We help stakeholders from science and business to access a range of funding programmes on a national and international scale. In Germany, this includes programmes offered by organisations such as the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft or DFG) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (known as the BMBF), the WIPANO funding campaign by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (known as the BMWi) and its Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (known as ZIM for short). To be eligible for our support with national programmes, our “clients” must have a registered office in Germany.

On a European level, we focus on Horizon 2020, the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation. However, we also work with smaller programmes, such as calls under ERA-Net (a campaign that aims to improve cooperation between European research organisations) and calls in the EU’s COSME programme for improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. Cross-border regional projects are supported by programmes such as INTERREG, a decentralised instrument within the EU’s structural and investment policy.

We advise potential applicants on the opportunities available under these programmes and support the application process if they wish to work with a partner from Bavaria.

Information for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key pillars of technological progress. However, they do not always have the financial and organisational resources needed to turn innovative ideas into reality and ensure that their developments are legally protected.

Special funding programmes for SMEs help to improve this situation.

The EU has set up a number of funding programmes that are tailor-made to the needs of SMEs:

Horizon 2020 – SME Instrument: Geared towards highly-innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. We provide Bavarian SMEs with support in preparing their applications for the SME Instrument. If your project is successful in receiving funding, your SME is also entitled to receive support from BayFOR and Bayern Innovativ as key account managers (KAMs). After a detailed need analysis, the KAM gets in touch with a skilled business coach, who provides the SME with free advice. The KAM supervises the cooperation between the SME and the business coach, making sure that everything runs professionally.
Other relevant funding programmes for SMEs include EUREKA Eurostars, COSME and IraSME.

Furthermore, our partner Bayern Innovativ provides Bavarian SMEs with advice on innovation management and use the “IMP3rove” tool to analyse the company’s innovation strategy.

As part of the WIPANO programme (which stands for “knowledge and technology transfer through patents and standards” in German), the Bayerische Patentallianz GmbH offers advice to SMEs from or based in Bavaria and helps them to patent and market their inventions.

Project initiation and application submission

Every funding programme has its own entry requirements as well its own specific application process.

Provided that a Bavarian partner is involved in the project, we offer the following support services:

We support applicants in preparing their grant applications, helping both with administration and content.

Furthermore, we also employ our network to build up research consortia and provide them with effective support in searching for project partners on a Bavarian, national and international level.

By creating a network between science and industry, we can match research organisations and universities with suitable partners from the industry.

When dealing with EU funding programmes, our services also include preparing contracts between the European Commission and the project partners, and providing intensive support for project implementation.

Implementation of R&I projects

We support businesses and research organisations with the implementation of their R&I projects (research & innovation) – provided that they are being coordinated in Bavaria. Our services range from project management through to the dissemination of research results and public relations activities.

We are committed to help manage regional, national and international funded networks made up of representatives from science and business.