Federal, state, EU - there is money for your step towards modern tools. A sober guide without sales talk. Six points on the funding landscape for German mid-sized businesses.
Funding is not a gift. It is a tool that works if you know it - and costs time if you don't.
This page gives you an overview: which programmes fundamentally exist, which might fit your project, what you should watch out for. Specific amounts and conditions change frequently - please always check the current state directly with the funding body. The programmes named here are an orientation, not a commitment.
To be able to sort the funding landscape at all, a simple scheme with three categories helps.
Consulting funding. The state pays a share of external consultants - often 50 to 80 percent. The aim: you should be able to afford professional advice before you invest. An example at the federal level: the BAFA consulting funding for SMEs. At the EU level: the European Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIH), which offer free initial consultations.
Investment funding. The state pays a share of your software or hardware investment - often 30 to 50 percent. Programmes are called or were called "Digital Jetzt", "go-digital" or similar. These programmes are regularly relaunched, renamed or adjusted. You will find current programmes bundled at foerderdatenbank.de, run by the federal government.
State programmes. Every federal state has its own programmes. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, for example, the Digitalbonus MV. In other states they are called "Digitalbonus Bayern", "Digitalisierungsprämie BW" or similar. They complement the federal programmes, but partly exclude one another. It is worth checking carefully here.
If your project lies within the usual mid-market range, three orders of magnitude are typical:
Small consulting package. A few days of external consulting on a specific topic. Funding often covers half or more. The application path is manageable, often done in two to three weeks.
Medium investment. A specific software project in the five-figure range. Funding typically between 30 and 50 percent. The application procedure takes several weeks, approval takes a further few weeks. The project usually may only start after approval - which affects the planning.
Larger undertakings. AI or platform projects in the six-figure range can land in European programmes (Horizon Europe, Digital Europe), but are usually oversized for a single mid-sized business. A consortium or specialised consulting is worthwhile here.
One: The application is submitted too late. Almost all funding requires that the project only begins after approval. Anyone who has already signed contracts or bought software is out.
Two: Several programmes are applied for in parallel, without checking whether they exclude one another. That happens frequently between federal and state level. The consequence: a claw-back years later.
Three: The effort is underestimated. A funding application costs time, sometimes external consulting too. For a project under ten thousand euros the effort often no longer pays off. Better to calculate honestly than to lose hours on bureaucracy that would be better spent on building.
If you are starting completely from scratch, there are three reliable points of contact.
foerderdatenbank.de - the official database of the federal government. Here you can filter by industry, federal state and topic. Not always up to date, but the most honest starting point.
The chamber of commerce (IHK) in your region. Every IHK has an officer for digitalisation funding, often available free of charge. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the IHK in Schwerin or Rostock. One call, half an hour of conversation, a clear overview.
European Digital Innovation Hubs. EU-funded advisory bodies that advise SMEs free of charge on digitalisation and AI. There are several in Germany, one for northern Germany is being set up.
We are not funding consultants. What we do, however, is to look together with you at whether your project could fundamentally be eligible, and which consulting partner can help you with the application.
For good applications we deliver the necessary technical documents: concept, planned effort, architecture sketch, timeline. That is part of our problem analysis even without funding - with funding only a little more formal. We expressly recommend no consultancies that would commission us themselves or pay a commission on the contract. A clean separation is important here.
A funded project is not half as expensive, but about 20 to 30 percent cheaper - when everything runs smoothly. The rest disappears into application effort, waiting time, formal requirements and possibly a consultation.
Even so, the path is almost always worthwhile. Especially for larger projects from about 20,000 euros. For small tools the effort rarely pays off, for medium and larger undertakings it mostly does. Anyone who has time should look into funding. Anyone who has no time should honestly consider this - sometimes starting now is worth more than cheaper later.
Behind the funding lies a political observation: the German mid-market is digitalising more slowly than the competition in the US and Asia. The EU Commission and the federal government want to reduce this gap - and precisely where companies otherwise do not dare to take the step. Funding is therefore a kind of risk-sharing: the state shoulders part of the investment so that you dare the leap.
This has two consequences: first, funding is often advertised precisely for topics that are politically in focus (currently: AI, cybersecurity, energy efficiency). Second, it is time-limited - what is funded today can be gone in two years. Anyone who has a plan in mind should not wait forever.
Funding should not drive your decision - it should make it cheaper if it is right anyway.
We keep seeing businesses that begin a funded project they would never have started without funding - and end up dissatisfied because it did not match the need. The right order is the other way around: first find out what you really need. Then look at whether there is funding for it. Not the other way around.
What software fundamentally costs, calculated without funding, can be found under What software really costs. How we clarify the problem before every build can be found under Before we build, we work out what is broken. Where you should best begin with AI can be found under Where to begin with AI?.