Regional Development and Shaping Demographic Change

The Free State of Thuringia promotes, through the program “Regional Development and Shaping of Demographic Change”, both capital and non-capital measures aimed at the sustainable strengthening of rural areas. The focus is on the creation and further development of regional development concepts, strategies, feasibility studies, as well as location analyses. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Agriculture also supports the implementation of key measures in the areas of regional promotion, mobility, agriculture & rural development, as well as infrastructure & urban development. Model projects aimed at establishing or ensuring equivalent living conditions and securing public services are also funded. The project is subsidized as a grant with a funding rate of 80% to 90%, whereby applications must be submitted by September 30 of each year for the following fiscal year.

Eligible applicants include, among others, municipal authorities, special-purpose associations, registered associations and federations, public enterprises, as well as other private law legal entities. For projects related to regional development and model initiatives, municipal working groups, planning associations, and regional planning communities are additionally eligible. A prerequisite for the grant is secured overall financing of the project including follow-up costs, the waiver of early commencement of measures, and implementation within the current fiscal year on Thuringian territory. The program is aimed at all stakeholders who wish to actively shape the consequences of demographic change through forward-looking concepts and pilot projects and thereby contribute to the equivalent development of Thuringia.