The middle class lacks its most important funding program.
(Photo: age fotostock / Getty Images)
Berlin There is a risk of an interruption of more than a year in the federal government’s most important innovation funding program for small and medium-sized enterprises. At the beginning of October, the Federal Ministry of Economics surprisingly imposed an application freeze on the “Central Innovation Program for SMEs” (ZIM). Due to the great demand, it was foreseeable that the available money for 2021 would be exhausted.
For 2022, the current draft includes 550 million euros for the ZIM. But that is not enough to reopen the program in principle, as can be seen from a response by the federal government to a small request from the left. The answer is available from the Handelsblatt.
It states that the budgeted money is “only sufficient for the approval of the applications that have already been submitted as well as the applications that have yet to be received in accordance with the exception rule”. Certain projects are excluded from the application freeze in October, but they only make up a fraction of the program.
The impending long-term standstill is causing an uproar among business representatives. “After the recent ban on applications, it is a declaration of bankruptcy to leave research-based SMEs out in the rain for the coming year,” said Iris Plöger, member of the management board of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the Handelsblatt. If the new federal government wants to dare to make more progress, it must also encourage it.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
“It is really time to take countermeasures here,” said Peter Adrian, President of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), the Handelsblatt. For the future of Germany as a research location, it is important that the ZIM is properly financed. “The reliability of this funding instrument is particularly important for innovative small and medium-sized companies,” says Adrian.
Time is of the essence for extension
The Federal Ministry of Economics, under the new leadership of Robert Habeck (Greens), has announced that it will take care of the ZIM. The aim is to ensure “adequate funding in accordance with the needs”. How much money will be made available for the ZIM in the coming year is still being negotiated.
In any case, time is of the essence. If enough funds are available, companies can start applying again from March onwards, because the budget will then be put into motion. But the economy would be very keen to find out about this as early as possible. Projects have to be prepared accordingly, applications have to be written.
The opposition is therefore putting pressure on it. “The new Bundestag and the new federal government elected by it are called upon to quickly create the conditions so that the ZIM can continue to work,” says Petra Sitte, research policy spokeswoman for the Left. The coalition has made innovations big on the flags. The announcements should now be quickly followed by action.
More: Robert Habeck plans the socio-ecological market economy.