Apply for funding under the funding guideline "KMU-innovativ: Research for civil security"

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) wants to strengthen the innovation potential of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in civil security research. It also wants to support SMEs in exploiting corresponding market opportunities.

The main aim of BMBF funding is to strengthen the position of SMEs in the accelerated transfer of technology from the pre-competitive stage to practical application. The projects must

• be aligned with the priorities of the framework program "Research for Civil Security 2018 to 2023" and
• aim to develop innovative security solutions that are important for the positioning of companies on the market.

Funding is possible for

• Collaborative projects between SMEs and relevant users.
• Alliances involving
  • of several SMEs,
  • research institutions or
  • companies that do not meet the SME criteria.

However, the benefits of the project must primarily benefit the SMEs involved.

Your project can address the following topics, for example:

• Protection and rescue of people, non-police emergency response, civil protection,
• protection of critical infrastructures, security of supply,
• protection against crime and terrorism, police security,
• technological developments for future security solutions, for example in the areas of plant safety, robotics or the detection of hazardous substances,
• Security solutions for changing societies, such as innovative security services and organizational concepts,
• technologies and concepts for training and further education, for example digital teaching and learning methods or modern training and simulation technologies.

If this is expedient for later implementation, you should include legal issues such as data protection or liability issues as well as social aspects.

Your intended results must

• go well beyond the current state of science and technology,
• have clear performance advantages over available solutions and
• have a high economic application potential that is recognizable through convincing dissemination and exploitation plans.

As an SME, you can generally receive funding of up to 50 percent of the eligible project-related costs.

As a partner of an SME, up to 100 percent funding is possible for

• Universities,
• research and scientific institutions
• or comparable institutions in the non-economic sector.

Colleges and universities receive a project allowance of 20 percent for non-commercial research projects in addition to the eligible expenditure financed by the BMBF.

It is also important that the results of your funded project are preferably exploited in Germany or in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

You are not entitled to the funding. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research will review your claim and decide at its discretion and within the framework of the available budget funds.

Stage 1 of the application procedure: Project outline

• in German, suitable for review, easy to understand and comprehensible without further aids, maximum 12 A4 pages, including attachments, 12-point font.
• You must use the online outline tool for the funding measure "KMU-innovativ: Forschung für die zivile Sicherheit" on its Internet portal to create your outline.
• Use the following outline:
  • Topic and objective of the project, description of the security scenario,
  • State of the art in science and technology, novelty of the solution approach, own preliminary work, patent situation,
  • Description of the scientific and technical solution approach and the scientific procedure,
  • scientific-technical and economic risk, justification of the need for state funding,
  • Structure of the network, brief description of the applicant institutions and companies (description of competencies, business models, market access and prospects),
  • Work plan, definition of a milestone target in the middle of the project with measurable or verifiable criteria, definition of further handover points, bar chart,
  • Financing plan (rough financial quantity structure with details of cost types, own funds, third-party funds and person-months individually by partner), presentation of the own contribution to be made,
  • Exploitation plan (economic and scientific/technical prospects of success, potential uses and connectivity including exploitation strategy after the end of the project with a brief business plan taking into account market potential and market environment, statements on location-related exploitation).

Forms available: No

Written form required: Yes

Informal application possible: No

Personal appearance necessary: No

Eligible applicants are

• small and medium-sized enterprises. This means
  • They employ fewer than 250 employees,
  • have an annual turnover of no more than EUR 50 million or
  • had an annual balance sheet total of no more than EUR 43 million in the previous financial year
• Companies that are not SMEs
• universities
• University and non-university research institutions
• associations
• associations
• other organizations with an interest in research and development (R&D)

The following are also eligible to apply

• University hospitals,
• scientific institutions,
• public authorities and their research institutions and
• comparable institutions and the respective users (e.g. local authorities, security and rescue services such as the police and fire department, operators of critical infrastructures or companies in the private security sector)

Further requirements for start-ups:

• You have completed the start-up phase, commenced productive business activities and can demonstrate economic performance on the market through corresponding customer projects or orders.
• You have permanent employees with proven specialist knowledge in IT and proven expertise in the AI specialist areas to the required extent.
• They are in a position to raise the own contribution to be provided as part of the partial financing of the project from ongoing business operations.

Further requirements for funding:

• Funding can be provided for collaborative projects between SMEs and relevant users. Funding is also available for collaborative projects involving several SMEs as well as research institutions or companies that do not meet the SME criteria.
• The benefits of the project must primarily benefit the SMEs involved.

The funding requested for the project as a whole must be granted primarily to the participating companies.

• Action before the administrative court

The application procedure consists of two stages. Use the "easy-Online" portal for both stages.

Stage 1: Project outline

• As a coordinator representing the project partners, submit your project outline via "easy-Online".
  • If associated partners are to be involved, attach their informal confirmation of participation to the project outline as a special appendix (in addition to the 12 A4 pages).
• Immediately afterwards, please also send a printed version signed by you by post to the project management organization VDI TZ.
• The project outline will be evaluated in a competitive procedure according to the following criteria
  • Importance of the research objective: technical relevance to the framework program, need and relevance for practical application,
  • scientific and technical quality of the solution approach, level of innovation,
  • Complementarity of the consortium, in particular the role of SMEs and involvement of users, competence of the project partners,
  • Quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the project structure,
  • Quality and feasibility of the exploitation plan, market potential, contribution of the project to the future positioning of SMEs on the market,
  • comprehensible, realistic presentation of the overall financing.
• Suitable project outlines will be selected for funding on the basis of the evaluation. The BMBF reserves the right to seek advice from independent experts when evaluating the project outlines submitted. As the network coordinator, you will receive the selection result in writing no later than 2 months after the evaluation deadline.

Stage 2: Application

• Call up "easy-Online". There you will be guided step by step through the application process.
• Fill in all the fields required for the application, provide it with a qualified electronic signature and send it off.
  • If you do not have a qualified electronic signature, you must print out the application in addition to submitting it electronically, sign it and send it to the project management organization by post together with the other application documents in the next step.
• The project management organization will confirm receipt of your application.
• The responsible administrator at the project management organization will contact you during the processing of your application to clarify any queries.
• Applications are evaluated and checked according to the following criteria:
  • Implementation of any conditions from the first stage and compliance with the financial framework recommended there for funding,
  • Organization of cooperation within the network, project management,
  • Definition of a milestone target with quantitative or verifiable criteria, definition of further handover points,
  • Eligibility of the requested funds,
  • Necessity and appropriateness of the requested funds to carry out the activities listed in the work plan,
  • Comprehensibility of the explanations of the financing plan,
  • Quality and informative value of the utilization plan, also with regard to the funding policy objectives of this funding measure,
  • Justification of the need for state funding, presentation of scientific, technical and economic risks
• You will receive a decision on your application.

If it is positive, you will receive a notification of funding by post.

Project outlines can be submitted at any time. Evaluation deadlines for project outlines are:

• 15.10.2023
• 15.04.2023

The last submission deadline is 15.10.2023.

The submission deadline is not a cut-off deadline. However, project outlines received after the above deadline may no longer be considered.

Es fallen keine Kosten an.: Fee free of charge