KMU-innovativ Funding for Medical Technology

The project belongs to the medical-technology field the programme targets, and its high research risk is the point. The company submits a pre-proposal, and on a positive assessment files the full application. The eligible costs are mostly the research and development staff, with project-related material and equipment for the experimental work. With a grant covering a substantial share of these costs, the funding comes to about EUR 700,000 over the project.

KMU-innovativ uses a two-step, fast-track process. A short pre-proposal is submitted at one of the fixed dates, usually twice a year, and is assessed on the ambition and the technical risk of the project. Only on a positive assessment does the company prepare the full application, which keeps the early effort proportionate to the chance of success. The grant rate for a company is typically around half of the eligible costs, which makes a multi-year frontier project genuinely affordable to attempt, and the novelty is judged at the level of the field, not just the single company.

For an SME doing genuinely risky research in medical technology, KMU-innovativ provides substantial grant funding precisely where the outcome is uncertain. The pre-proposal route keeps the early effort proportionate to the chance of success, and the field is explicitly part of the programme, which makes it a natural fit for research-intensive medical-technology projects.