As of 1st January 2023, a new funding guideline for the Industrielle Gemeinschaftsforschung (IGF) will come into force, which will influence the application for funding in the medium term.
Until the 31st of December 2023, the AiF e. V. will review applications and forward them to the granting authority with a funding recommendation based on the vote of the review. From 1st January 2024, the granting authority or the project sponsor will review the application. There will be a public tender for project sponsorship in which the newly founded AIF Projekt GmbH will apply as the umbrella organization for the research associations.
Research associations that are full members of the AiF e.V. on the cut-off date of 31st December 2023 are directly eligible to apply up to and including 31st December 2025.
Other business-based research associations (which are not members of the AiF e.V.) are entitled to apply for authorization in the IGF funding program to the granting authority or the project management organization as of 1st January 2024.
However, the authorized new research associations are not eligible to apply until 1st January 2025. This means that until the 31st December 2024, an exclusive application authorization for the members of the AiF e.V., i.e. also of the Research Association for Mechatronic Integrated Devices 3-D MID e.V., will continue to exist for the time being!
As of 1st January 2026, only those research associations are eligible to apply which are authorized according to the annex to this funding guideline. The Research Association Mechatronic Integrated Devices will apply for authorization procedures in 2024. The criteria listed in the annex to the IGF funding guideline of 21st December 2022 largely correspond to the characteristics that are already fulfilled by the research association today.
New criteria for SMEs
New criteria for micro and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a further change. Previously, SMEs were defined as companies whose annual sales (including affiliated companies) did not exceed EUR 125 million. The newly defined category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consists of companies that employ fewer than 250 people and either have annual sales of no more than EUR 50 million or have an annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 43 million. When submitting an application, attention must be paid to the composition of the project-accompanying committee.
Source: Bundesanzeiger
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