Baden-Württemberg: Industry is hesitant to spend on research despite funding

Baden-Württemberg: Industry is hesitant to spend on research despite funding

The Baden-Württemberg industry is becoming increasingly reluctant to invest in research and development. Only 53% of companies plan to increase their budget in the next three to five years, a significant decline compared to 2018, when 68% of companies said this. At the same time, the proportion of companies planning to reduce their budget has increased significantly to 13%, compared to only 5% in 2018.

This reluctance is primarily due to political and economic uncertainties that are weighing on the investment climate. Nevertheless, the majority of companies recognize the central importance of research and development for their innovation and competitiveness. In fact, 56% of the companies surveyed have taken advantage of government funding programs to advance their research projects.

State funding and innovation vouchers

What is particularly noteworthy is that 65% of the users of these funding programs stated that they could not carry out any projects or could only partially carry them out without support from the state. In economically difficult times, public funding proves to be a decisive factor in strengthening companies' ability to innovate, which is also evidenced by the stable demand for existing funding programs. This stability in demand continues despite the increase in new programs over the past decade.

Since 2008, innovation vouchers have been issued to small and medium-sized companies in Baden-Württemberg to support their research and development projects. The Ministry of Economy, Labor and Tourism launched these vouchers to particularly support founders and small and medium-sized companies.

Details about the innovation vouchers

The innovation vouchers are intended to support companies in creating new products, production processes or services. The administration of the funding program is the responsibility of L-Bank, and applications can only be submitted via their website. Procurement guidelines stipulate that the following are eligible to apply:

• Existenzgründerinnen und -gründer
• Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen der gewerblichen Wirtschaft oder der Freien Berufe mit Hauptsitz in Baden-Württemberg
• Unternehmen mit bis zu 100 Vollzeitäquivalenten und einem Vorjahresumsatz oder Vorjahresbilanzsumme von maximal 20 Millionen Euro

Funded services include research and development services (R&D) in the context of product, service and process innovations. There are different voucher lines:

1. Innovationsgutschein BW: Max. 7.500 Euro Zuschuss (50% Fördersatz) für wissenschaftliche Tätigkeiten und umsetzungsorientierte FuE-Dienstleistungen.
2. Innovationsgutschein Hightech BW: Max. 20.000 Euro Zuschuss (50% Fördersatz) für KMU, wissenschaftliche Tätigkeiten, umsetzungsorientierte FuE-Dienstleistungen und Materialkosten.
3. Innovationsgutschein Start-up BW: Max. 20.000 Euro Zuschuss (50% Fördersatz) für Start-ups bis 5 Jahre nach Gründung, auch in der Vorgründungsphase.

If you have any questions about the application, you can use a hotline (0721 150-1680) and an email address (innovationsgutscheine@l-bank.de). Applications submitted to the ministry before August 1, 2023 will continue to be processed there. Overall, it should be noted that the innovation vouchers represent important support for the Baden-Württemberg economy, especially in times of reluctance to invest.

For more information on research spending reported ka-news.de about developments in the industry while the Ministry of Economics, Labor and Tourism Baden-Württemberg provides more details about the innovation vouchers.