Startups can apply for funding from the IGP for innovations such as new digital business models and data-driven pioneering solutions. The concepts should promise significant advantages over existing solutions. The selection of Funding projects The funding is provided through thematic calls for proposals, for which project ideas are submitted in a competitive process. The first call will address the topic of business models and pioneering solutions for ecological innovations. These could include, for example, new concepts for the circular economy, designs for climate protection and the energy transition, or digital solutions for resource conservation and sustainability.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is expected to announce further details on the first call and the application process this summer. Further calls are currently scheduled to follow approximately every six months. A budget of approximately €10 million has been allocated for each call.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck says:
"Modern economic policy must take a holistic view of innovation. Groundbreaking innovations do not come solely from technical research and development. New business models, organizational concepts, and service designs can also be highly innovative. By supporting such non-technical innovations, we are expanding the funding spectrum and thus also our perspective on innovation."
The IGP initially ran as a temporary pilot project, which, with its new innovation policy approach, boosted around 300 innovation projects. These have so far included creative industry concepts, new organizational models, innovative platform formats, and educational instruments.
An external evaluation has confirmed the success of the new approach in the pilot project. Among other things, positive effects are expected for both the funding recipients and third parties, and the program's continuation, as now decided, is recommended. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy is thus expanding its innovation policy focus beyond technology development and, in the long term, opening up new support opportunities for a wide range of innovators.
The program is embedded in the funding concept “From Idea to Market Success” and contributes to the implementation the Federal Government's startup strategy With its focus on non-technical innovations and its call system, it can support various innovation policy goals, such as the fields of digital, creative, social, and ecological innovation identified in the coalition agreement.
