New EXIST guidelines published

Good news for founders: The new guidelines for EXIST Start-Up Grant and EXIST Research Transfer of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection have been published! Both programs will continue, funding applications are possible until the end of 2027.

The basic goal of the grants remains, of course: Start-ups from science are to be supported in a targeted manner. However, there are also a few new points that are now more in focus, such as increasing the proportion of women and diversity in founding teams and the contribution of the projects to the German Sustainability Strategy of the Federal Government. We have already summarized the three most interesting innovations for prospective founders:

• Review of applications for EXIST Research Transfer Phase I now three times a year (application submission at the end of March, August and November) and notification of review results within three months.
• Possibility to apply for funding phase II not only after funding phase I in EXIST Research Transfer, but also for AI projects in the EXIST start-up grant
• Possibility to extend the project duration by up to three months if a project member is having a baby

All info and the guidelines can be found on the EXIST website. We will be happy to clarify in a consultation whether the formats of EXIST - Start-ups from Science are suitable and which changes will result specifically from the new guidelines. For appointments contact ilmkubator@tu-ilmenau.de.