{"id":5098,"date":"2025-05-02T15:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/nicht-kategorisiert\/the-central-innovation-program-for-smes-zim-has-been-relaunched\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T16:26:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T16:26:39","slug":"the-central-innovation-program-for-smes-zim-has-been-relaunched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/services-en\/the-central-innovation-program-for-smes-zim-has-been-relaunched\/","title":{"rendered":"The Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) has been relaunched"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container has-pattern-background has-mask-background nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-margin-top-small:40px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1256.6px;margin-left: calc(-3% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-3% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.455%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:0px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.455%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.455%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.455%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.455%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.455%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1 fusion-text-no-margin\" style=\"--awb-margin-bottom:40px;\"><p><span class=\"fusion-dropcap dropcap\" style=\"--awb-color:var(--awb-custom_color_1);\">D<\/span>he good news: it has been greatly improved. The Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) is the program of choice for manageable technical innovations from SMEs that are to be developed and brought to market in 1-2 years. Not well suited for software projects.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Maximum grant per company:<\/strong> EUR 168,000 &#8211; 336,000<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lump sum:<\/strong> On proof up to +100% of personnel costs for companies, 85% for research institutions<\/li>\n<li><strong>Subsidy:<\/strong> 25-60 % of the costs + lump sum<\/li>\n<li><strong>Funding body:<\/strong> Federal Government -&gt; BMWK -&gt; AiF\/VDI VDE-IT#<\/li>\n<li><strong>Program budget:<\/strong> approx. 650 million euros per year<\/li>\n<li><strong>Funding topics:<\/strong> Development of innovative products, processes or technical services without restriction to specific technologies and sectors<\/li>\n<li><strong>Eligible to apply:<\/strong> SMEs and medium-sized companies with up to 1,000 employees<\/li>\n<li><strong>Formats:<\/strong> In-house (individual project), consortia (2 or more SMEs), networks (6 or more SMEs)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Application:<\/strong> single-stage, possible on an ongoing basis<\/li>\n<li><strong>Requirements:<\/strong> Innovation, technical risks, economic exploitation<\/li>\n<li><strong>Difficulty level:<\/strong> Easy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"--awb-margin-bottom-small:20px;--awb-font-size:34px;\"><h3 class=\"fusion-title-heading title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;font-size:1em;--fontSize:34;line-height:var(--awb-typography1-line-height);\">The ZIM program<\/h3><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p class=\"\" data-start=\"176\" data-end=\"508\">ZIM is the largest technology and sector-open funding program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) for innovative SMEs in Germany. It supports research and development projects by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and cooperating research institutions.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" data-start=\"510\" data-end=\"524\">Goals:<\/h3>\n<ul data-start=\"525\" data-end=\"728\">\n<li class=\"\" data-start=\"525\" data-end=\"583\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"527\" data-end=\"583\">Strengthening the innovative power of SMEs<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"\" data-start=\"525\" data-end=\"583\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"527\" data-end=\"583\">Bringing new products, processes and services to market faster<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"\" data-start=\"525\" data-end=\"583\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"527\" data-end=\"583\">Promoting cooperation between business and science<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-3 fusion-text-no-margin\" style=\"--awb-margin-bottom:30px;\"><h3 class=\"\" data-start=\"730\" data-end=\"758\">Funding opportunities:<\/h3>\n<ul data-start=\"759\" data-end=\"991\">\n<li class=\"\" data-start=\"759\" data-end=\"824\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"761\" data-end=\"824\">Individual projects: R&amp;D projects of a single company<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"\" data-start=\"825\" data-end=\"889\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"827\" data-end=\"889\">Cooperation projects: R&amp;D projects involving several partners<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"\" data-start=\"890\" data-end=\"991\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"892\" data-end=\"991\">Innovation networks: development and management of networks with common development goals<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"993\" data-end=\"1120\">ZIM grants are non-repayable subsidies and can be combined individually &#8211; also with international partners.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-image-element awb-imageframe-style awb-imageframe-style-below awb-imageframe-style-1\" style=\"--awb-margin-top:30px;--awb-margin-bottom:10px;--awb-caption-title-color:var(--awb-color1);--awb-caption-text-size:var(--awb-typography5-font-size);--awb-caption-text-transform:var(--awb-typography5-text-transform);--awb-caption-text-line-height:var(--awb-typography5-line-height);--awb-caption-text-letter-spacing:var(--awb-typography5-letter-spacing);--awb-caption-margin-top:-10px;--awb-caption-title-font-family:var(--h3_typography-font-family);--awb-caption-title-font-weight:var(--h3_typography-font-weight);--awb-caption-title-font-style:var(--h3_typography-font-style);--awb-caption-title-size:var(--h3_typography-font-size);--awb-caption-title-transform:var(--h3_typography-text-transform);--awb-caption-title-line-height:var(--h3_typography-line-height);--awb-caption-title-letter-spacing:var(--h3_typography-letter-spacing);--awb-caption-text-font-family:var(--awb-typography5-font-family);--awb-caption-text-font-weight:var(--awb-typography5-font-weight);--awb-caption-text-font-style:var(--awb-typography5-font-style);\"><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-1 hover-type-none\" style=\"border-radius:20px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" title=\"Whiterock ZIM Projektformen en\" src=\"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en.png\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en.png\" alt class=\"lazyload img-responsive wp-image-5714\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271280%27%20height%3D%27720%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201280%20720%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271280%27%20height%3D%27720%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en-200x113.png 200w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en-400x225.png 400w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en-600x338.png 600w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en-800x450.png 800w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterock-ZIM-Projektformen-en.png 1280w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/span><div class=\"awb-imageframe-caption-container\" style=\"text-align:center;\"><div class=\"awb-imageframe-caption\"><h3 class=\"awb-imageframe-caption-title\">Whiterock ZIM Projektformen en<\/h3><p class=\"awb-imageframe-caption-text\">In addition to individual projects, ZIM offers various forms of collaboration in cooperation projects (above) and innovation networks (below)<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-2 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"--awb-margin-top:50px;--awb-margin-bottom-small:20px;--awb-font-size:34px;\"><h3 class=\"fusion-title-heading title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;font-size:1em;--fontSize:34;line-height:var(--awb-typography1-line-height);\">ZIM funding rates<\/h3><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-4 fusion-text-no-margin\" style=\"--awb-margin-bottom:20px;\"><p>The following table shows the subsidy rates (in yellow) for different company sizes. The classification is based on the number of employees and turnover\/total assets. Higher funding rates apply for young companies and companies in structurally weak regions. There are also higher funding rates for cooperation partners with international participation.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-image-element awb-imageframe-style awb-imageframe-style-below awb-imageframe-style-2\" style=\"--awb-margin-top:20px;--awb-caption-title-color:var(--awb-color1);--awb-caption-text-size:var(--awb-typography5-font-size);--awb-caption-text-transform:var(--awb-typography5-text-transform);--awb-caption-text-line-height:var(--awb-typography5-line-height);--awb-caption-text-letter-spacing:var(--awb-typography5-letter-spacing);--awb-caption-margin-top:-10px;--awb-caption-title-font-family:var(--h3_typography-font-family);--awb-caption-title-font-weight:var(--h3_typography-font-weight);--awb-caption-title-font-style:var(--h3_typography-font-style);--awb-caption-title-size:var(--h3_typography-font-size);--awb-caption-title-transform:var(--h3_typography-text-transform);--awb-caption-title-line-height:var(--h3_typography-line-height);--awb-caption-title-letter-spacing:var(--h3_typography-letter-spacing);--awb-caption-text-font-family:var(--awb-typography5-font-family);--awb-caption-text-font-weight:var(--awb-typography5-font-weight);--awb-caption-text-font-style:var(--awb-typography5-font-style);\"><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-2 hover-type-none\" style=\"border-radius:20px;\"><a class=\"fusion-no-lightbox\" href=\"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en.png\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"ZIM F\u00f6rders\u00e4tze en\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en.png\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en.png\" alt class=\"lazyload img-responsive wp-image-5734\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271280%27%20height%3D%27720%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201280%20720%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271280%27%20height%3D%27720%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en-200x113.png 200w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en-400x225.png 400w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en-600x338.png 600w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en-800x450.png 800w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Whiterrock-ZIM-Foerdersaetze-en.png 1280w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/span><div class=\"awb-imageframe-caption-container\" style=\"text-align:center;\"><div class=\"awb-imageframe-caption\"><h3 class=\"awb-imageframe-caption-title\">ZIM F\u00f6rders\u00e4tze en<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-5\"><p>Click on the table to enlarge it. Further information: <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zim.de\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener\" data-start=\"1145\" data-end=\"1177\">www.zim.de<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Get the latest insights, market trends &amp; inspiration!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funding-programs","category-services-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5098"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5803,"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5098\/revisions\/5803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baumgaertnerinnovation.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}