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SME-innovative: Materials Research (Mat2SME) – Impulses for Innovation and Growth
Nationwide funding of pre-competitive R&D projects of small and medium-sized enterprises in the field of materials research. Submission of project outlines possible by April 15 and October 15 each year.
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Grant criteria
Funding objective
Strengthening the innovation potential of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the field of materials research through funding grants for high-risk pre-competitive research, development, and innovation projects with high application potential.
Eligible expenses
- Personnel costs
- Instruments and equipment
- Contract research, consulting, and services
- Material and operating costs
Non-eligible expenses
- Food, feed, and luxury food products
- Cosmetics
- Battery technology
- purely software-based solutions
Eligible to apply
- Companies
Funding requirements
- Registered office, place of business, or branch in Germany
- Compliance with the EU SME definition
- Medium-sized enterprises with ≤ 1,000 employees and ≤ €100 million annual turnover
Documents required for application
- Project outline (easy-Online)
- Form "Company in difficulty"
- detailed financing plan
- project description
Evaluation criteria
- technical relevance to the funding measure
- degree of innovation of the solution approach
- relevance for market and TRL progress
- qualification of the partners
- quality of the exploitation plan
Description
SME-innovative: Materials Research (Mat2KMU) supports high-risk, pre-competitive research, development, and innovation projects of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as medium-sized companies with up to 1,000 employees and €100 million annual turnover throughout Germany. The aim is to strengthen the innovation potential within the specialist program "Material Innovations for the Transformation of Economy and Society" (Mat2Twin). Funded projects focus on material innovations with high application potential, digital mapping of material and product properties, new functional properties, economic and ecological sustainability, bio-inspired or smart materials, as well as solutions for health and quality of life. Submissions are made in two stages: initially, project outlines are submitted online by April 15 and October 15 and evaluated based on technical relevance, degree of innovation, market relevance, partner qualification, and exploitation plan. Selected outlines are invited to submit a formal application.
The funding is provided as a non-repayable grant with a funding rate of 50% to 80% of eligible expenses (personnel costs, instruments, contract research, material and operating costs). Project durations are typically 24 months, extendable up to 36 months in justified cases. Excluded are expenses for food, feed and luxury goods, cosmetics, battery technology, as well as purely software-based solutions. Both individual projects and consortia with SMEs and medium-sized partners are supported; associated large enterprises are welcome. The project management agency VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH administers the measure on behalf of the BMFTR. Interested companies submit project outlines via easy-Online and additionally provide the form "Companies in Difficulty," a financing plan, and a project description. This initiative opens access for SMEs to highly specialized materials research and paves the way for groundbreaking innovations.
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