Innovation needs resources

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia supports those willing to innovate with a range of funding opportunities.

As a state bank, NRW.Bank provides a range of financing options for founders and companies, as well as private individuals and public actors. These options are specifically designed to support digitalization and innovation projects, thereby strengthening the innovation capacity of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Furthermore, there are a number of other instruments specifically aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs in the country. The ‘New Era of Entrepreneurship’ initiative provides a good overview of these.

are the economic engine of the country. Therefore, MWIKE programs such as Mittelstand Innovativ & Digital (MID) specifically aim to strengthen SMEs in digitizing the innovative capacity of their businesses.

Finally, innovation in North Rhine-Westphalia can be supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF NRW). This fund aims, among other things, to promote innovation, research, technological developments, and digitalization.

The cluster voucher is a support option for clusters and networks to further develop project ideas. The aim of this support is to take projects to the next level, explore funding opportunities, and find suitable project partnerships. Interested clusters and networks can apply for the cluster voucher, which includes up to six days of consultation, using the application form. Project ideas can be submitted at any time, and the voucher is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

There are also various ways to finance innovation at the federal level.

offers Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action a wide range of services to support innovation in Germany through innovation-friendly framework conditions and market-oriented funding programs.

Various funding programs of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) also offer the opportunity to support innovation projects in the early stages of research and development.

The following funding opportunities should be explicitly mentioned at the federal level:

• Excellence initiative “go-cluster: Excellently networked!” of the BMWK as a program for the professionalization of cluster management organizations;
• The funding program “IGP – Innovation Program for Business Models and Pioneering Solutions” is a program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). Its focus is on ideas that improve educational opportunities or contribute to enabling new or easier access to information;
• “EXIST – Start-ups from Science” funding program as an instrument of the BMWK to promote start-ups from universities and non-university research institutions;
• Funding program “SME Innovative” of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to support industrial research and pre-competitive development projects of small and medium-sized enterprises;
• The “ZIM – Central Innovation Programme for SMEs” funding programme of the BMWK as market-oriented technology funding for individual, cooperation and network projects.
• SPRIN-D Challenges are innovation competitions organized by the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation, in which successful teams are quickly and unbureaucratically funded to develop solutions for major social and technological challenges.

Finally, there are further funding opportunities at the EU level.

Funding at the European level is particularly shaped by the Green New Deal and is implemented primarily through the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and the Horizon Europe framework program. With a budget of €95.5 billion, Horizon Europe is one of the world's largest funding programs for research and innovation. It aims to build a knowledge- and innovation-based society and is structured around three pillars: "Excellent Research," "Global Challenges and the Competitiveness of European Industry," and "Innovative Europe."

In addition, there are funding opportunities for clusters and networks at EU level, especially through the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP), which acts as a central point of contact for cluster actors at the European level and aims to network clusters with each other.

The European Cluster Analysis Secretariat (ESCA) also promotes the excellence of clusters and their management. As a central point of contact, ESCA awards three different quality labels (Gold, Silver, Bronze) to qualified clusters and networks within the framework of the ECEI.