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The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has set up the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM)to foster market-driven, technology-based R&D projects within German SMEs. In addition, innovative company networks can claim funding for management and organisation services. The programme is designed to enhance the companies’ capacity to innovate and to strengthen their long-term competitiveness, including among the skilled crafts and liberal professions. ZIM is to contribute to economic growth, particularly by tapping into their value creation potential and by raising the level of practical knowledge.
Companies and their collaborating research institutions can receive grants through ZIM for ambitious research and development projects that lead to new products, processes, or technical services. Funding is not restricted to any particular field of technology, nor to specific fields of application. Whether or not an application for a grant is approved depends on how innovative the project is and how marketable the results are likely to be.
Thanks to cooperation with other businesses and /or research institutes, SMEs can gain access to state-of-the-art scientific findings. Cooperation between companies and research institutes helps to establish networks between industry and science. The effect is a direct transfer of knowledge – both within Germany and transnationally – which translates new technological findings into marketable products, processes, and services.
ZIM offers various options for tailored funding for the following:
Feasibility studies – studies that serve to prepare research and development projects eligible for ZIM funding.
Individual R&D projects – individual company research and development projects.
R&D cooperation projects – joint research and development projects between at least two companies or between companies and research institutions. In international partnerships, funding is made available only for the partner in Germany.
Innovation networks – external network management services are funded by innovative networks with at least six companies, and in international networks with at least four companies, as well as at least two foreign companies and one foreign institution that acts as a partner of the German management institution. Additional partners can also participate in both national and international networks.
International research and development projects and innovation networks receive higher funding rates, partly due to the higher costs involved in international collaboration.
The evaluation from June 2024 confirms the positive effects of the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs and emphasizes the programme’s role in strengthening the innovative capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises. The evaluation highlights that ZIM primarily acts as an instrument for technology transfer by promoting national and international R&D projects and networks. Both R&D expenditure and R&D employment in companies increased as a result of ZIM funding. In terms of R&D expenditure, the leverage effect is estimated at around 1.9, i.e., for every euro of funding, companies spend an additional 90 cents on research and development. The positive effects are particularly pronounced for R&D newcomers and SMEs with low R&D intensity. ZIM therefore plays a significant role in mobilising R&D, especially in smaller companies.
The evaluation is also positive with regard to ZIM project diversity. The feasibility studies provide low-threshold funding, especially for young enterprises and businesses without previous experience with ZIM that wish to prepare for larger R&D projects.
The results of the evaluation provide valuable input for detailed improvements of ZIM; a new ZIM funding guideline with optimised funding conditions was launched at the beginning of 2025. Click here for further information about ZIM and the specific funding available for innovative projects by SMEs.
