Transfer BONUS

• Small and medium-sized technology-orientated enterprises (SMEs)
• Non-technology orientated SMEs whose project has a strong technological orientation

who have their registered office (or at least one legally independent operating facility) in Berlin and meet the support criteria laid down in the current guidelines of the Federal State of Berlin.

If the applicant is a legal entity, they are required under No. 1.5 of the Implementation Regulation for section 44 of the Federal Land Budget Code [Nr. 1.5 AV § 44 LHO] to first register in the transparency database of the Federal State of Berlin before applying for research funding.

Contracts to scientific institutes in Berlin and Brandenburg in the field of technology and knowledge transfer,

• that involve a project in applied research and development,
• with a project goal and contents that do not include commercial standard services,
• where the technical implementation of the project is ensured, and
• an own financing share is ensured.

First-time variant

• Support is available to cover expenditure which is spent on external scientific activities prior to the development of a new or modified product, a new or modified service or a process innovation and which is incurred in conjunction with concrete first-time collaboration between the company and a scientific institute.
• The term of the project should not exceed 6 months.

Standard variant

• Support is available to cover expenditure on external research and development activities related to planning, development and implementation when such activities are geared towards developing new or modified products, services and production processes to market or production maturity.
• This support can also be applied for after the first-time variant was already applied for in conjunction with a previous, independent project.
• Support is only granted if the project does not exceed a term of 6 months.

Standard digitalisation variant

• Support is available to cover expenditure on external research and development activities related to planning, development and implementation when such activities are geared towards designing new or modified products, services and production processes in the field of digitalisation (suppliers) and/or to implement such products internally (users).
• Support is only granted if the project does not exceed a term of 12 months.
• Following examination of the suitability of the project for support, a project meeting is held with IBB Business Team GmbH.

First-time variant

• Contract volume supported to 100%, however, no more than EUR 3,000
• This variant is valid just once and solely for companies that have not yet conducted project-based collaboration with scientific institutes, e.g. via “Pro FIT” (programme to promote research, innovation and technologies) or any other federal or federal-state programme.

Standard variant

• Contract volume supported to 70%, however, no more than EUR 15,000
• This support can be applied for a maximum of three times (including one digitalisation project) over a period of three consecutive years for projects that have clearly distinguishable contents.

Standard digitalisation variant

• Contract volume supported to 70%, however, no more than EUR 45,000
• The standard digitalisation variant can be applied for once only.

Please submit your application using the online application form available at www.transferbonus.de .

Please contact us at the earliest possible date. Our Customer Centre (030 / 2125-4792) will be pleased to answer detailed questions regarding research funding and assist you with your application.

Please note: Applications are accepted in German only.

Projects funded under this support programme can make a direct or indirect positive contribution to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• 8 - Decent work and economic growth
• 9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructure

IBB generally excludes certain controversial business practices from funding or conducts case-by-case assessments within controversial business sectors.

You can find more detailed information on the exclusion criteria in our sustainability guidelines .

Further information on the IBB Group’s SDGs can be found at:

Our contribution to the SDGs – IBB Group

At the same time, we are aware that our funding activities may also have unintended negative impacts on individual SDGs. These aspects are not covered in full on this page. However, we are giving careful consideration to potential conflicts of interest and are working to minimise any negative effects as far as possible.

• The rules of de-minimis support must be observed.
• Support is only available to cover the work performed by the scientific institute within the scope of the corresponding offer.
• The project may not commence until after approval has been granted by IBB Business Team GmbH. The signing of a related R&D contract or acceptance of the offer by the scientific institute already constitutes commencement.
• The current rules of the GRW programme to ‘improve regional business structures’ (GRW) related to activities eligible for support are applicable.
• Invoices related to the project must be settled using non-cash methods or payments must be made using non-cash methods and the related documents (e.g. bank statements) must be kept as proof of payment.
• Applicants have no legal claim for support.