WIPANO: funding for patents and standards.

1. What is WIPANO?

The purpose of the programme and the gap it closes for smaller companies.

Studies regularly show that protecting intellectual property is disproportionately expensive for smaller companies. WIPANO addresses this by funding the efficient protection and exploitation of intellectual property and by encouraging the transfer of the latest research results into standards. The aim is not only to help innovations come about, but to help them spread quickly through knowledge and technology transfer.

2. The three focus areas

What each track funds, so you can find the one that fits your situation.

• Patenting for companies (Patentierung - Unternehmen): supports SMEs in securing R&D results through patents or utility models for the first time. It covers the whole process from checking the idea to exploitation, split into two modules. Module 1 funds the patent or utility model application including the necessary advisory services and a prior-art search. Module 2 funds an invention-specific cost-benefit analysis and first exploitation activities, and can only be used after Module 1 is complete.
• Standardisation for companies (Normung - Unternehmen): supports SMEs and mid-sized companies that want to participate actively in national, European, and international standardisation committees.
• Knowledge transfer through standardisation (Wissenstransfer durch Normung und Standardisierung): funds cooperation projects between universities, research institutions, and companies that move the latest research findings into norms and standards, including standards research, standards management, and the creation of a DIN SPEC or comparable document.

3. Who can apply

The eligibility conditions, including the key three-year rule for patenting.

The programme is aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. For the patenting track, a central condition is that you have not filed a patent or utility model in the three years before the application, so it is designed to bring first-time or returning users into the IP system. Funded services are provided by external service providers against payment. Universities and research institutions participate mainly in the knowledge-transfer track.

4. How much you get

The form of the grant and why you should check the exact figures in the directive.

WIPANO reimburses defined cost items: the external costs of patent or utility model applications and the related advisory and search services in the patenting track, and a personnel-cost flat rate for committee participation in the standardisation track. The exact funding shares and caps are set per focus area in the directive and should be confirmed there before you plan, as they differ between the patenting, standardisation, and knowledge-transfer tracks.

5. Deadlines and how to apply

The submission windows per track and the route to apply.

Applications are submitted on a rolling basis through the easy-Online portal, and must be filed before the project begins. The submission windows differ by track: patenting for companies until 31 October 2027, standardisation for companies until 31 May 2027, and the knowledge-transfer track with project outlines until 31 May 2026 and full applications until 31 May 2027. The project agency PtJ provides guidance documents for the application.

6. Notes

How WIPANO fits with R&D funding.

WIPANO funds IP protection and standards work, not the underlying research, so it complements R&D instruments such as ZIM or the Forschungszulage rather than overlapping with them. Pure patent administration is, for example, not eligible for the Forschungszulage, which makes WIPANO a useful dedicated route for protecting the results of a funded R&D project.

7. The three modules in detail

WIPANO is three focused modules, each a distinct step from invention to market. You apply to one at a time.

Module 1 — Patentierung (patenting for companies). Helps an SME protect R&D results with a patent or utility model for the first time, or for the first time in three years. It funds 50% of the patenting process delivered by qualified external providers: Modul 1 (mandatory) covers the application itself including the required advice and prior-art search (grant up to €10,000); Modul 2 (optional) covers a cost-benefit/exploitation analysis and first exploitation activities (up to €6,000). Eligible costs are capped at €32,000, so the maximum grant is €16,000. Up to 24 months, granted as De-minimis.

Module 2 — Normung (standardisation for companies). Funds an active role in national, European and international standards bodies at up to 70%, in three work packages: LP1 personnel subsidies, participation fees, travel and standardisation consulting (up to €20,000); LP2 standards research, standards management and the DITR data service (up to €10,000); LP3 creating a DIN SPEC (PAS) or a VDE application rule (up to €10,000). Maximum grant €40,000, up to 36 months, granted as De-minimis.

Module 3 — Wissenstransfer (research into standards). Funds cooperation projects between companies and publicly funded research institutions that move research results into standards, at up to 80% for an SME, up to 50% for a large company and up to 85% for a research institution, with grants of up to €200,000 per partner over 24 months, under the GBER. Research institutions may account for no more than 70% of eligible person-months.

8. Costs, rates and De-minimis

WIPANO reimburses defined cost items after the fact; it does not pay in advance.

The programme is a De-minimis-scale instrument of small, focused grants, not a large R&D grant. The patenting and standardisation modules are granted under the De-minimis Regulation, so they count against the €300,000 per undertaking over three years De-minimis ceiling; the consortium module is granted under the GBER. WIPANO reimburses costs, so you pre-finance the work and claim the grant afterwards, and only net costs count. Because the rates and caps differ per module, the patenting (€16,000), standardisation (€40,000) and consortium (€200,000 per partner) figures should never be added together as a single headline number.

9. Applying and deadlines

Rolling submission through one federal portal, but always before the project starts.

All modules are administered by Projektträger Jülich (PtJ) and submitted through the federal easy-Online portal. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis but must be filed before the project begins — the grant decision (Zuwendungsbescheid) names the earliest start date, and starting earlier (vorzeitiger Maßnahmenbeginn) forfeits the funding. Submission windows differ by track: patenting through 31 October 2027 and standardisation through 31 May 2027 under the current directive (in force 1 January 2024, valid to 31 December 2027). Eligibility is assessed per module; for patenting, a central condition is that you have not filed a patent or utility model in the three years before applying.

10. Common mistakes and FAQ

The errors that most often cost an applicant the grant, and quick answers.

• Commissioning a service provider, attorney or filing before the application is in, which forfeits the claim.
• Adding the per-module caps into one headline figure: they are separate modules with separate rates.
• For patenting, overlooking the three-year rule on a prior IP filing.
• Forgetting that WIPANO reimburses after the fact, so the project must be pre-financed.
• Ignoring the €300,000 De-minimis headroom where a module is granted as De-minimis.

Is WIPANO a grant or a loan? A non-repayable grant, reimbursed against proof of cost.

Can it be combined with ZIM or the Forschungszulage? Yes. WIPANO funds IP protection and standards work, not the underlying research, so it complements development funding rather than overlapping with it — development first, then WIPANO for the patent and the standards.

Who runs it? The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE), delivered by Projektträger Jülich (PtJ).

11. Ineligible costs and exclusions

WIPANO funds invoiced external services and official fees, and nothing else. Knowing the exclusions up front avoids a wasted application.

Own labour (Eigenleistungen) is not funded: a company's internal time and work falls outside the programme, and only invoiced external services and official fees are eligible. Anything commissioned or started before the grant decision is generally ineligible and can forfeit the whole claim, including instructing a patent attorney to file. Work outside the funded scope, such as general business consulting, marketing beyond the defined exploitation activities, or ongoing IP renewal fees beyond the funded process, is not covered. Certain applicants are excluded: for the patent module, associations (Vereine), non-profit GmbHs, joint-application consortia and freelancers; freelancers are also excluded from standardisation; and undertakings in difficulty are excluded across the programme. Repeat or overlapping use is barred: the patent module is closed to anyone who filed a patent or utility model, or received WIPANO funding under this directive, in the last three years, and the standardisation and consortium modules cannot run simultaneously. Finally, the same costs cannot be funded twice, by WIPANO and another programme.

12. How applications are assessed

For the company modules WIPANO is eligibility-driven, not a scored competition. The consortium module is the exception.

There is no ranking call for the patent and standardisation modules: an application that meets the conditions and arrives within the window is examined by Projektträger Jülich against the directive, and a positive examination leads to a grant within the available budget. This is a meaningful contrast with ZIM, which applies a quality assessment. The examination checks formal eligibility (SME status, German establishment, main-business status, the absence of exclusions, and for the patent module the three-year rule and patent-attorney use), scope fit (the measures fall within the module and its work packages), cost eligibility (external, invoiced, within caps, with own labour excluded), state-aid compliance (De-minimis headroom where applicable and no double funding), and the apply-before-start rule. The consortium module is the exception: its project outline (Skizze) is assessed on quality and relevance before a full application is invited.

13. What to prepare

The forms are generated in easy-Online; this is the substance to have ready.

• A description of the project: the invention to be protected (patent), the standardisation activity, or the research-to-standards cooperation.
• Applicant and eligibility evidence: company details and SME status (assessed across linked and partner companies), a German establishment and main-business status, and confirmation the exclusions do not apply.
• The three-year confirmation (patent module): no patent or utility model filed, and no WIPANO funding under this directive, in the last three years.
• The external provider(s), and for the patent module the patent attorney.
• A De-minimis declaration covering aid received over the relevant three years, where the module is granted as De-minimis.
• A cost plan of eligible external costs and official fees within the module's caps.
• For the consortium module: the project outline on the official template, the partner structure, and the person-month split evidencing the 30% / 70% rule.
• At the claim stage: the invoices and proof of the delivered services, and for the patent module evidence of the IP filing.

14. Industry examples

WIPANO funds IP protection and standardisation, not a sector's R&D, so the range is broad. These are illustrative project shapes, not named beneficiaries.

• A manufacturer protecting a new mechanism: a first patent on a novel machine component, with attorney fees, prior-art search and official charges funded at 50% (patent module).
• A start-up securing a core invention: a utility model or patent on the technology its business and investors depend on, with an optional exploitation analysis (patent module).
• A medical-technology SME shaping test methods: active participation in the committees that set test and inspection norms for its device class (standardisation module).
• A software or hardware firm setting interfaces: work on terminologies, classifications, reference architectures or interface standards, including digital standardisation, that ease market entry (standardisation or consortium module).
• A clean-tech company moving research into standards: a consortium with a university to turn research results into a standard the wider market can adopt (consortium module).

See the full program page: WIPANO