KMU-innovativ Funding for Production Research

The project belongs to the production-research field that KMU-innovativ targets, and its high technical risk on a new method 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 equipment and material for the experimental work. With a grant covering a substantial share of these costs, the funding comes to about EUR 600,000 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 a manufacturer doing genuinely risky research on a new production method, KMU-innovativ provides substantial grant funding precisely where the outcome is uncertain. The fast-track pre-proposal keeps the early effort proportionate to the chance of success, and the field is explicitly part of the programme.