Digital Now – funding doubled for current year

2nd July 2021 — The BMWi Digital Jetzt investment grant programme supports investments by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in digital technologies and in the corresponding qualification of employees. For example, the development of a digital business model, the optimisation of business processes in the company, digital shop solutions, platforms or the further development of IT security in the company are funded.

As part of the funding, 40 to 70 per cent of the investment costs can be covered, usually up to 50,000 euros. Applications for funding can be submitted via the online funding portal developed by the DLR project management organisation for the contract.

Since the launch of Digital Jetzt in September 2020, more than 1,770 applications have been received on the portal by DLR-PT. They have a total investment volume of over 175 million euros. More than 1,200 of the applications have been finally reviewed and processed. A total of around 41 million euros in funding has been granted to the companies. The average funding amount for the approved applications is around 39,000 euros, with an average funding rate of 51 per cent.

With the funding increase in the programme, much more money will be available for the digitisation of SMEs in future. In the current year, the BMWi is doubling the budget from 57 million euros to 114 million euros. In total, the economic stimulus package will provide an additional 250 million euros up to 2024.