German-Finnish Joint R&D Projects Matchmaking 2025

Funding will be available for R&D projects in which new products, technical services or processes with a high market potential are developed and subsequently transformed into marketable products. 

Project ideas should stem from the companies' own needs and can belong to any domain. The projects should involve the development of competitive and innovative products, technical services and processes.

In Germany, funding is provided through the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM), and in Finland by Business Finland.

Deadline of the application is 15th September 2025.

Project results will have to contribute to the development of commercial products, processes and / or technical services, which are based on the international state of the art.

The project proposals have to comply with the guidelines:

• The consortium must include at least one Finnish and one German commercial company.

• The project should have an obvious advantage and added value resulting from the cooperation between the participants from the two countries (e.g. increased knowledge base, commercial lead, access to R&D infrastructure, new fields of application, etc.).

• The project should demonstrate a balanced technological contribution by the participants from both countries, and must be equally significant to all participants.

The whole guidelines (Chapter 2.2.)

German and Finnish partners file one short common proposal in English, legally signed by all organizations participating in the project. 
The common proposal has to be attached to the national applications.

The proposal form is available on ZIM's website.

German funding conditions require a draft cooperation agreement between the German and Finnish partners when the application is submitted. The agreement regulates e.g. IPR and joint use and marketing of the results of the cooperation. You can find the details in the ZIM guideline.

In addition to the common proposal, project partners must submit a national application according to the respective rules.

Each German project partner submits an individual ZIM application to AiF Projekt GmbH. The application must be written in German and comply with the regulations of the ZIM guideline.

Detailed criteria for submitting applications and the email address for requesting the ZIM application form can be found on the ZIM website.

Normal Business Finland funding principles apply. For more information, see Business Finland funding.

Deadline of the application is 15th September 2025.

Consultation with the national funding organizations is highly recommended in an early stage. It is possible to hand in a project sketch in order to receive non-binding feedback on your project idea before filing a full application.

Mr. Christian Fichtner
AiF Projekt GmbH
Phone: +49 (0)30 48163-590
Email: c.fichtner (at) aif-projekt-gmbh.de
ZIM International

Ms. Kirsi Armanto
Senior Advisor
Business Finland
Phone: +358 50 396 2846
Email: kirsi.armanto (at) businessfinland.fi
Business Finland