Apply for funding for the "Software Sprint - Support for Open Source Developers" program

If you are a programmer and want to develop open source software as a creative solution to a social problem, you can receive funding under certain conditions.

With the "Software Sprint", the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports projects by independent, creative programmers who want to find solutions to socially relevant issues.

The basic idea is that people can use software to participate in society or handle data and information in a self-determined way. A pool of software models (prototypes) is to be created in the funded projects. The aim is to lay the foundations for further innovations. In addition, a culture of trial and error and the exchange of experience is to be supported.

You can apply for funding as a programmer, either alone or in a small interdisciplinary team. Your software solution should significantly surpass the current state of technology and be thematically related to one of the following points:

• social participation, transparency and citizen involvement
• Data visualization and storytelling, i.e. the narrative transfer of knowledge
• New approaches and means of generating, sharing and using data
• Data economy, data security and privacy
• Data analysis to make sound decisions and design processes

At the end of your project, you should make the source code of your project freely available on an open source platform. The result of your funded project will become part of a collection of innovative software prototypes, the "Prototype Fund".

The project usually lasts 6 months. Its total costs may not exceed EUR 50,000. You will receive up to 95 percent of these costs as individual funding. Only project-related personnel and overhead costs are considered for funding. You must be at least 18 years old and resident in Germany.

There is no entitlement to funding. Rather, the granting authority decides on the basis of its dutiful discretion within the framework of the available budget funds.

To apply, you create a project outline in the first stage of the procedure using an application form. This project outline contains the following information:

• Your topic,
• Your contact details (name, address, telephone, e-mail address),
• the duration of the project
• the total costs and funding requirements,
• a brief summary of the objectives and the solution,
• current state of technology and novelty of the solution approach, intended social or technical benefits, differentiation from related approaches,
• A description of your previous experience and projects,
• Your work plan, if applicable with work packages and time schedule,
• a list of person-months (the total number of months worked by all project participants) with personnel and, if applicable, overhead costs,
• Prospects for exploitation of the results under open source license, expected practical use and follow-up possibilities.

You are eligible to apply if you

• are a self-employed programmer,
• are at least 18 years old and
• are resident in Germany.

You can apply alone or as a small interdisciplinary team.

• Administrative court action

The application procedure has 2 stages.

Stage 1: Project outline (short project description)

• You submit your outline in digital form on the Prototype Fund internet portal.
• Your project outline will be assessed according to the following criteria
  • technical reference to the funding guideline,
  • Approach and novelty of the idea,
  • social benefit,
  • qualification of the applicant, own preliminary work,
  • prospects of successful exploitation, publication as open source.
• External experts may be consulted for the evaluation.
• All entries are in competition with each other.
• If your project idea is selected, you will receive a positive written invitation to submit your application (stage 2)

Stage 2: Submission of the application

You submit your application as follows:

• The application is submitted electronically via the easy-Online portal.
• Call up the easy-Online Internet portal. There you will be guided step by step through the application process.
• Fill in all the fields required for the application and send it off.
• If you have a qualified electronic signature (the necessary technical requirements are, for example, appropriate software or a reader), you can submit the application completely electronically.
• 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 together with the other application documents in the next step.
• Once the project management organization has received the application, you will receive a confirmation of receipt.
• The responsible administrative department at the project management organization and the Prototype Fund will help you with any questions regarding the application.
• Applications are also 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
  • Eligibility of the requested funds;
  • Necessity and appropriateness of the requested funds;
• You will receive a decision on your application. If the decision is positive, you will receive a grant notification by post.

You can submit your project outline at any time.
However, please note the evaluation deadlines for project outlines

• 30.09.2023
• 31.03.2024

The submission deadline is not a cut-off deadline. However, project outlines received late may not be considered until the next deadline.

There are no costs.

Companies, universities, research institutes and other institutions are not eligible to apply.