Foundation and digitization
Funding for business start-ups and start-ups
In North Rhine-Westphalia, the ERDF/JTF program is strengthening support for business start-ups. The Business Advisory Program and the Go-to-Market Voucher support founders who are looking for professional advice for their project or want to qualify their products for market maturity. Start-ups in the regions of North Rhine-Westphalia are supported with special funding measures. Find out more about all the support available for start-ups.
Funding for SMEs in North Rhine-Westphalia
The ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups to innovate and adapt to the digital transformation is crucial to their competitiveness. Many companies have already invested in expanding their digital infrastructure in recent years. With special support, innovative ideas from start-ups in particular can renew outdated processes and make them more effective.
The ERDF/JTF NRW program supports SMEs and start-ups in implementing new processes, products and strategies. With target group-oriented consulting, companies can advance industry-wide trends in their own operations. Smaller and young companies can further develop their ideas for digital solutions and prototypes with the help of project-related support and networking. These prototypes can be supported on their way to market maturity with funding offers such as the go-to-market voucher. In order to tackle the digital transformation in North Rhine-Westphalia at an early stage, the Pact for Computer Science is already supporting school pupils in their digitalization and computer science skills. Find out more about the Go-to-Market-Voucher and to the Pact for Computer Science 2.0.
Sustainable growth and competitiveness through funding for business start-ups
The ERDF/JTF program of North Rhine-Westphalia supports start-ups in going through a sustainable phase of growth and expansion with various measures. The business start-up advice provided by the Business Advisory Program supports founders in this process. You can find out who is eligible to apply in the information on the funding measure.
Start-up and project funding for a digital and green North Rhine-Westphalia
The "Start-up Transfer.NRW" funding measure supports university graduates and scientists in North Rhine-Westphalia in taking the step towards self-employment. Funding is provided for start-up projects based on technological, business or social innovations. The aim is to make research results ready for the market, develop prototypes and concretize business plans. Further information can be found in the funding measure.
With the "Start-up Center.NRW" and "Start-up Fokuszentren.NRW" funding competitions, the state also facilitates the founding of companies from universities and strengthens the transfer of knowledge from research to the market. Find out more about Start-up Center.NRW and Start-up Fokuszentren.NRW.
Start-ups in the environmental economy make a significant contribution to start-up activity and the development of environmental innovations in Germany. The "Grüne Gründungen.NRW" call is intended to raise the economic and ecological potential of green start-ups in the state and further strengthen the attractiveness of NRW as an innovation location for green start-ups. Funding is available for the initial implementation of technical solutions, process innovations and digital applications that are intended for testing or further development. Further information can be found on the page on the funding measure.
Industrialized rural regions in North Rhine-Westphalia are facing various challenges. In order to support a sustainable transformation, digitalization is being used for the REGIONALE 2025 funding measure in South Westphalia. Under the motto "Digital - Sustainable - Authentic", it supports projects in three areas: smart urban and village development, social cohesion and strengthening the economy and work through digitalization and resource efficiency. Find out more about the REGIONALE 2025 South Westphalia.
All measures in the thematic area "Start-up and digitalization" were assessed as compatible with the "Do no significant harm" principle (DNSH principle), as they do not have a significant negative impact on the environment due to their nature. Find out more about the environmental impact assessment in the "EFRE/JTF look through" section.
Support measures
The ERDF/JTF NRW 2021-2027 program offers a wide range of funding opportunities through the implementation of the priorities. The priorities are subordinated to a total of 12 different specific objectives, from which the programme's 30 or so measures are derived in order to provide the necessary impetus for future development.