Funding for digitalisation and software development in Austria and Germany

Software built for your business is eligible for funding in principle — in Austria and in several German federal states, usually covering 30 to 50 per cent of the costs. Whether a programme is open right now changes several times a year. What never changes is the order of events: The application has to be filed and approved before you place the order. If the order comes first, the funding is lost — the most common and most expensive mistake.

This page explains what is funded, what is not and how to proceed. You do not have to work it out alone: we tell you which body is responsible for you and supply the documents the application needs. We help with the application itself; you have to submit it, because your company is the applicant.

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How does a funding application work?

Almost all programmes only fund projects that have not yet started at the time of application. The start is usually the placing of the order, not the beginning of development.

01
Describe the project
A first conversation, after which we write down what is to be built and why. Free of charge and without obligation.
02
Quote and project plan
You receive a quote with itemised positions, a specification of services and a schedule — in the form funding bodies want to see.
03
Submit the application — and wait for approval
The application is submitted by your company, usually together with your tax adviser, your chamber of commerce or a funding consultant. We help you fill it in, supply everything that belongs in it and answer the funding body's questions directly. Only once the decision is in do you place the order.
04
Build and settle up
We provide invoices and records in a form that matches the application — timesheets and line items as in the quote.

Expect several weeks between application and decision. If you have to be finished by a fixed date, plan that time in — or decide deliberately to go without the grant.

What does digitalisation funding cover?

Usually eligible

Development of an application for your workflows
Connecting existing systems, migrating data
Training your staff on the new solution
Consulting and conception beforehand
Measures for IT security and data protection

Usually not eligible

Running costs: hosting, maintenance, licences after the project
A website or an online shop on its own
Standard hardware without a link to the project
VAT, if you can reclaim input tax
Anything commissioned before the decision

Which item counts in your case is set out in the guideline of the respective programme — the differences between the states are considerable.

Does my own staff's working time count?

This is the question funding applications most often hang on — and the answer depends on which of the two funding routes you take. Clarifying it beforehand means filing the right application.

Route 1

Investment grant

KMU.DIGITAL, the state programmes in Austria, Digitalbonus and Digi-Zuschuss in Germany. You introduce something that in principle already exists.

What is funded is what you buy in externally — in other words our invoice. Your own staff's working time does not count; several programmes explicitly exclude in-house work.

Route 2

Research and development funding

The research funding agency FFG in Austria, the innovation programme for medium-sized businesses in Germany. You develop something whose outcome is open.

Here the hours of your own people count as well, often as the largest item. In return you have to record and document them precisely, and there are upper limits per person and year.

The dividing line is risk: if you introduce something known, it is an investment grant. If it is open whether your approach works at all, it can be a development project — and then your own hours do count. Important: whether your project counts as development is decided by the funding body, not by us — an ordinary digitalisation project usually is not. Which of the two routes is an option for you is something we tell you in the first conversation.

What funding is available in my state?

In both countries funding is mostly regional — based on where your company is, not where we are. This overview therefore names the responsible body for each state and takes you straight there.

Maximum amounts, funding rates and deadlines deliberately do not appear here. They change several times a year, and an out-of-date figure on this page would be worse than none. What counts is always the body that awards the money — which is why the overview tells you whom to ask.

A click on a state opens the website of the responsible funding body. That is where you find what applies today — up to date, unlike any overview.

As of October 2026: Of the 16 German federal states, roughly half currently have an open programme; several have closed their application windows or used up their budgets. In Austria the nationwide KMU.DIGITAL funding is currently exhausted, and some of the state programmes are running. This is a snapshot, not a promise — ask before you plan.

Austria

Nationwide there is KMU.DIGITAL for consulting and implementation, plus a business funding programme in each state. Combining both is allowed: the federal guideline permits several grants for the same project as long as together they do not cover more than the total costs. You have to declare other applications for the same project in your application. Also note: in several states it is not the business agency that awards the funding but the state itself. The agency only advises.

Map data: svg-maps, CC BY 4.0

State	Responsible body	To the funding body
Österreich gesamt	Wirtschaftskammer und Wirtschaftsministerium, Abwicklung über die aws	kmudigital.at
Wien	Wirtschaftsagentur Wien	wirtschaftsagentur.at
Niederösterreich	Land Niederösterreich, Beratung über ecoplus	noe.gv.at
Oberösterreich	Wirtschaftskammer und Land Oberösterreich	wko.at
Steiermark	Steirische Wirtschaftsförderung SFG	sfg.at
Tirol	Land Tirol, Beratung über die Standortagentur	tirol.gv.at
Salzburg	Land Salzburg, Beratung über die ITG	salzburg.gv.at
Kärnten	Kärntner Wirtschaftsförderungs Fonds KWF	kwf.at
Vorarlberg	Wirtschaftskammer und Land Vorarlberg	wko.at/vlbg
Burgenland	Wirtschaftsagentur Burgenland	wirtschaftsagentur-burgenland.at

Germany

The federal programmes of recent years have expired, and the federal innovation programme for medium-sized businesses is not accepting applications at present either. Funding today comes from the states — usually under the name Digitalbonus, Digi-Zuschuss or similar, with their own guidelines in each state. The official overview is kept in thefederal funding database.

Map data: svg-maps, CC BY 4.0

State	Responsible body	To the funding body
Baden-Württemberg	L-Bank	l-bank.de
Bayern	Wirtschaftsministerium, Antrag bei der Bezirksregierung	stmwi.bayern.de
Berlin	Investitionsbank Berlin	ibb-business-team.de
Brandenburg	Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg	ilb.de
Bremen	BAB — Die Förderbank	bab-bremen.de
Hamburg	Hamburgische Investitions- und Förderbank	ifbhh.de
Hessen	WIBank	wibank.de
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	TBI, Projektträger des Wirtschaftsministeriums	tbi-mv.de
Niedersachsen	NBank	nbank.de
Nordrhein-Westfalen	NRW.BANK	nrwbank.de
Rheinland-Pfalz	Investitions- und Strukturbank ISB	isb.rlp.de
Saarland	Wirtschaftsministerium, Antrag über das Förderportal Saar	saarland.de
Sachsen	Sächsische Aufbaubank	sab.sachsen.de
Sachsen-Anhalt	Investitionsbank Sachsen-Anhalt	ib-sachsen-anhalt.de
Schleswig-Holstein	IB.SH, Beratung über die WTSH	ib-sh.de
Thüringen	Thüringer Aufbaubank	aufbaubank.de

The states rename their programmes regularly, discontinue them and launch new ones. That is why this page names the body and not the programme: the responsibility stays, the programme does not.

Which documents does the funding application need?

A funding application rarely fails because of the project, but because of the documents. We supply these four without you having to ask.

Quote with itemised positions

Broken down by service, not as a lump sum — funding bodies can only subsidise what is named.

Specification of services

What will be built, which problem it solves, which workflows change. In the language the application requires.

Schedule and cost plan

Project stages with duration and effort, matching the funding period.

Records for settlement

Invoices and timesheets that match the items in the application — otherwise the final report raises questions.

Frequently asked questions

Detailed answers to all your questions and concerns

Only on the website of the body listed above for your state. Many states work with application windows or fixed budgets: once the money is used up, the body stops accepting applications until new funds are released. Months can pass between two windows. Call them before you build your project schedule around it.

You have to submit it yourself, because your company is the applicant — that is what the funding bodies require. But we help you with the application: we describe the project so that it fits the form, supply the quote, the specification of services and the schedule, and answer the funding body's technical questions. If you do not have a funding consultant yet, we will tell you who is worth considering in your region.

If a programme is open, most cover 30 to 50 per cent of the eligible costs, capped at a maximum amount. You carry the rest. Running costs after the project are never funded.

Yes, and it counts across all funding together. Most digitalisation grants are awarded as de minimis aid: within three tax years a company may receive no more than 300,000 euros — all programmes and all bodies added up, linked companies included. If you received funding in earlier years, check this before you plan; the application asks you to declare it. The ceiling applies per country and comes from an EU regulation that runs until the end of 2030.

Yes. The state programmes fund according to your company's location, not the location of the service provider. Individual programmes require authorised providers — that is stated in the guideline, and we check it before quoting.

Then you decide whether the project is worth doing without a grant. That is why we scope projects so that a first usable version comes early — you are not forced to commission everything at once.

The first conversation and the quote are free. If a larger concept comes out of it that is itself eligible for funding, we say so beforehand.

We walk this path with you

Just tell us what you would like to be easier in your business — we will sort out the rest together. We look at whether funding is an option, who is responsible for it and what the application needs. The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.