Hightech-Strategie 2025
Overview of selected measures within the High-Tech Strategy
The funding measures listed here are anchored in the fields of action "Future Topics" and "Cooperation and Transfer" of the High-Tech Strategy. Measures are supported that strengthen the transfer of research results into practice. The basic idea is an innovation process starting with scientists who develop ideas, through innovators who bring the ideas into the economy and society, to the people who use the innovations in their everyday lives.
Cyberagentur
Electromobility
Research initiative mFUND (Modernity Fund)
Forum Open Culture of Innovation
Research for Sustainability (FONA)
Initiative INNOspace© and INNOspace Masters
Initiative for IT Security in the Economy
Innovation Programme "Zukunft Bau"
Maritime Research Strategy
National Research Data Infrastructure
New Vehicle and System Technologies
Technology Transfer Lightweight Construction (TTP-LB)
Cyber Security Innovation Agency (Cyber Agency)
The Cyber Agency is not a research centre itself. It will identify innovations in the field of cyber security and award concrete contracts for the development of innovative possible solutions. In doing so, the Cyber Agency plans, steers and prioritises individual programmes and brings them together. The Cyber Agency evaluates the results obtained and makes them available to the Federal Government. Thus, it has the task of stimulating research on cybersecurity topics, financing medium- and long-term research, and coordinating it. Initially, a total of 350 million euros from the budgets of the Federal Ministry of Defence and the Federal Ministry of the Interior will be available to the agency until 2023.
Electromobility
The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) promotes battery-electric mobility on the basis of the Electromobility Funding Guideline. This focuses on the market ramp-up and targets municipal and commercial fleets with high transport performance in the municipal environment. At the same time, the charging infrastructure required to operate the vehicles for this purpose is promoted.
Another focus of this directive is on funding application-oriented research and development projects to strengthen the competitiveness of research institutions and industry to provide an efficient transport and mobility infrastructure.
On 24 December 2020, the new version of the Electromobility Funding Guideline, which is valid until the end of 2025, was published in the Federal Gazette. Applicants are invited to submit funding applications or project outlines by the respective deadline in separate calls.
There are currently no calls for proposals.
Research initiative mFUND (Modernity Fund)
Within the framework of the mFUND research initiative, research and development projects around digital data-based applications for Mobility 4.0 have been funded since 2016. In addition to financial funding, mFUND supports networking between stakeholders from politics, business and research with various event formats as well as access to the data portal mCLOUD.
According to Section 4 of the GBER, only application-oriented research projects that can be fully assigned to at least one of the categories "Industrial Research", "Experimental Development" and "Feasibility Studies" are eligible for funding. These categories represent the different development stages of a project and are grouped into two funding lines under the programme: "Preparation of project proposals/preliminary studies" (funding line 1) and "Applied research and experimental development" (funding line 2).
The duration of the projects funded in funding line 1 "Preparation of Project Proposals/Preliminary Studies" is a maximum of twelve months, in funding line 2 "Applied Research and Experimental Development" a maximum of 36 months.
In funding line 1, projects are funded with a maximum of 100,000 euros. Applications for the second funding call are possible until 31 December 2022.
No current funding calls have been announced for funding line 2.
Forum Open Culture of Innovation
InnOsci is a forum for pioneers, practitioners and policy makers who want to further develop open science and innovation for more societal benefit and value creation. It sees itself as a platform, think tank and experimental space for a new, open innovation culture and aims to bundle discourses, empower actors, develop use cases and work out value creation potentials.
Funding is available for example:
ınnOscı Open Data Impact Award: Promoting Open Science and Open Data in science and society through a prize that gives Open Data more visibility. The prize money and attention will create incentives both for scientists to make their data available for open use and for downstream users to develop this data in innovative ways.
Fellow Programme Free Knowledge: In a programme jointly initiated by Wikimedia Deutschland, the Volkswagen Foundation and the Stifterverband, doctoral students, post-docs and junior professors are supported in the open design of their research processes and thus become ambassadors for open science. With the programme year 2020/21, Wikimedia Deutschland will become the sole sponsor, and we will continue to support it in partnership.
Research for Sustainability (FONA)
FONA implements the National Sustainability Strategy (DNS) and the Federal Government's High-Tech Strategy. It formulates three strategic goals to which research can make a decisive contribution for a sustainable future:
- Achieve climate goals
- Researching, protecting and using habitats and natural resources
- Developing society and the economy - living well throughout the country
The goals are concretised in eight priority fields of action. Examples include:
"Research initiative to conserve biodiversity"
In February 2019, the "Research Initiative for Biodiversity Conservation" was launched as the fourth flagship initiative of the FONA framework programme. It will significantly advance biodiversity research and bundle research activities more strongly. The long-term research initiative aims in particular to close gaps in knowledge about the systemic connections of species loss and to develop measures for the conservation, improvement and sustainable use of biodiversity.
The BMBF's research initiative on biodiversity conservation aims to create the necessary scientific basis for developing scientifically substantiated options for action and targeted strategies to safeguard ecosystem services. To this end, the research initiative is divided into three fields of action:
- develop innovative technologies and methods to improve and accelerate the recording of the status of biodiversity
- deepen the systemic understanding of the causes, dynamics and consequences of biodiversity changes
- and develop system solutions and portfolios of measures in dialogue with users.
In addition to thematic funding announcements, immediate measures are also planned to quickly explore and clarify urgent research questions.
Funding phase: 27.02.2019 to 01.03.2029
"Sustainable Water Management" (NaWaM) funding priority
With the funding priority "Sustainable Water Management" (NaWaM), the BMBF supports the development of innovative technologies, processes and system solutions for the sustainable management of water resources. NaWaM bundles the BMBF's activities in the field of water research within the BMBF framework programme "Research for Sustainable Development" (FONA).
The funding priority is divided into five thematic fields: "Water and Energy", "Water and Health", "Water and Nutrition", "Water and Environment" and "Water in Urban Areas". The research questions within the thematic fields are processed and announced in the form of topic-specific BMBF funding guidelines.
Initiative INNOspace© and INNOspace Masters
The "INNOspace" initiative promotes innovation, cross-sectoral technology cooperation (spin-off, spin-ins), commercialisation and the development of new markets. Measures include conferences, workshops, expert networks and accompanying advice on the utilisation and commercialisation of R&D results. The INNOspace Masters ideas and innovation competition with partners from the space sector (and in future mobility) generates new, sometimes disruptive technologies and business models. It is held annually and comprises various categories along the innovation chain from R&D to market launch.
Initiative IT Security in the Economy
Funding is available for individual or collaborative projects which, through their results, actively contribute to raising awareness and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the skilled trades in the area of IT security, which develop assistance and support services for the secure use of digitalised processes and business models in a target group-oriented manner or which contribute to the promotion of technological, organisational and work-shaping IT security skills in SMEs.
In this context, the following challenges and work can be addressed, among others:
- Cost-benefit trade-offs: Information and training offers as a start or initial IT security analyses
- Strengthening training and further education and adapting them to the new, changing challenges of digitalisation and IT security
- Deficits in the qualification of employees in the company
- Deficits in the process-oriented IT security strategy in the course of digitalisation
- Deficits in the acceptance of IT security measures in the company
- Create awareness and support for existing threats and legal requirements (e.g. DSGVO)
- Imparting competences for the independent implementation of IT security analyses
All results and offers must be publicly accessible.
The application deadline for each year of the current funding period is 15 February at 12:00.
Innovation programm "Zukunft Bau"
The object of funding is research and development services in applied building research. There is considerable federal interest in research priorities and topics that are expected to make decisive contributions to innovations in the fields of construction, architecture and the building and housing industry. The call for funding mentions important thematic priorities in this regard. In addition, Zukunft Bau research funding is open to all topics that are expected to contribute to the sustainable development of the building sector and serve a significant federal interest.
Institutions for research and knowledge dissemination (e.g. universities and colleges), companies or individuals can apply for funding for a research project. Research alliances or cooperations between several research partners are also possible.
Each year, one application round is held between 1 February and 31 December. A corresponding call for funding is announced annually. Project outlines for the first stage of the current call for proposals can be submitted digitally until 1 June 2022.
It is planned to launch the next round of applications for Zukunft Bau research funding in February 2023 with the publication of a new funding call.
Maritime Research Strategy
The Maritime Research Strategy currently includes two funding measures: The "Maritime Research Programme" and the funding line "Real-time Technologies for Maritime Security".
The "Maritime Research Programme" covers the entire technology spectrum of the industry. The focus is on research and development with contributions to:
- Environmental sustainability and mobility transition with the MARITIME.green programme.
- The research line MARITIME.smart deals with the development for the use of digital technologies.
- Maritime safety is the focus of the MARITIME.safe programme line.
- MARITIME.value was introduced for the sustainable development of maritime resources.
The funding line "Real-time technologies for maritime security" addresses innovative real-time systems to increase civil maritime security in the areas of safety and security.
Applications are not bound to fixed deadlines.
National Research Data Infrastructure
Currently often stored in a decentralised, project-based and temporary manner, data from science and research is to be systematically made accessible for the entire German science system within the framework of the NFDI. The NFDI is to be developed by users and providers of research data who will work together in consortia.
The Federal Government and the Länder will provide up to 90 million euros per year from 2019 to 2028 to support the NFDI. The majority of the money will go to up to 30 consortia (associations of universities, non-university research institutions, departmental research institutions, academies and other publicly funded information infrastructure institutions or other corresponding actors) in three staggered rounds of calls for proposals.
The deadline for the submission of applications for specialised consortia in the 3rd round will be postponed to 2 November 2021. Funding for the consortia in the 3rd round will begin on 1 January 2023.
Binding pre-applications received by 21 March 2022 will submit the full proposal by 29 April 2022.
Information on the DFG website
Information on the BMBF website
New vehicle and system technologies
The specialist programme strengthens the innovative power and competitiveness of the German vehicle industry. In the programme priorities "Automated Driving" and "Innovative Vehicles", funding is provided exclusively for collaborative projects in which actors from industry (including SMEs) and science work together in a pre-competitive manner.
Sketches can be submitted and processed on an ongoing basis in 2021 as part of the "New Vehicle and System Technologies" programme.
There are no current calls for proposals for 2022.
Project outlines are submitted via the portal "easy-Online - electronic form system for applications, offers and outlines". The basic data of the project must be entered there and the project outline uploaded (as a PDF file). The project outline and the project sheet for the outline must also be submitted to the project management organisation by post in signed form.
Lightweight Technology Transfer (TTP-LB) funding programme
Starting in 2020, a new technology transfer programme for lightweight construction will promote the cross-material and cross-sector transfer of knowledge and technology in lightweight construction, taking into account a life cycle assessment. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) is providing around 300 million euros in funding for this The TTP Lightweight Construction provides for the following five funding lines:
- Technology development to strengthen the German economy in lightweight construction
- CO2 savings and CO2 sequestration through the use of new construction techniques and materials
- CO2 savings through resource efficiency and substitution
- Demonstration projects
- standardisation.
The project duration should not exceed three years.
The TTP LB does not have any overall funding quotas for consortia, specifications on the composition of consortia or similar restrictions.
The application procedure consists of two stages (outline and full proposal) and is processed via the electronic form systemasy-Online.
The outlines must be submitted via the online portal "easy-Online" by 1 April and 1 October of each year. The last possible submission date is 1 October 2027.
Information on the website of the project management organisation
