Overall Description

This bilateral call supports collaborative R&D projects between German and Swedish SMEs. Projects should develop innovative products, technology-based services or processes that offer sustainable solutions, address societal challenges and demonstrate strong market and commercialisation potential.

The call is open to all technology and application fields. German participants are funded through the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM), while Swedish participants are funded by Vinnova.

Funding Amount

Each country funds its participants according to its national rules.

German participants – ZIM grants:

• Funding rate: generally 40%–60% of eligible costs for international cooperation projects, depending on company size, age and location.
• Maximum eligible costs per participating company: €560,000.
• Maximum eligible costs per German research organisation: €280,000.
• Maximum grant for the entire ZIM cooperation project: €3 million.
• German research organisations may receive up to 100% of eligible costs.
• Funding instrument: Non-repayable grant.

Swedish participants – Vinnova grants:

• Maximum Vinnova funding: SEK 3 million per project.
• Total budget available for the Swedish parts of projects: SEK 15 million.
• Swedish companies: Up to 40% of eligible costs.
• Swedish universities and research organisations: Up to 100% of eligible costs for non-economic activities.
• Applicants must finance the remaining project costs from their own resources.
• Funding instrument: Non-repayable grant.

Submission Deadline

• Opening date: 5 May 2026
• Submission deadline: 13 October 2026 at 14:00 CET
• Funding decisions announced: By 13 April 2027
• Latest project start: 31 May 2027
• Typical maximum project duration: Two years

Submission Conditions

• The consortium must include at least one German SME and one Swedish SME.
• One common bilateral application must be prepared in English.
• The common application must be legally signed by all participating organisations.
• The common application must be submitted to:
  • Vinnova through its electronic application portal.
  • AiF Projekt GmbH by email.
• Each organisation seeking funding must also submit a national application.
• German national applications must be prepared in German and comply with ZIM rules.
• Swedish project plans may be submitted in Swedish or English.
• A draft consortium agreement in English must exist at the time of submission, although it does not yet need to be signed.
• The application must confirm that the consortium agreement has been prepared.
• The agreement must cover partner roles, work plans, intellectual property, third-party involvement, commercialisation, distribution of benefits and joint reporting.
• German research organisations must retain the right to publish their own results without requiring approval from other partners.
• Projects must not begin before the applications are submitted.
• All companies must demonstrate sufficient capacity to implement and co-finance the project.
• Swedish proposals must address gender balance within the project team and consider whether sex or gender is relevant to the project’s solution.

Contribution balance:

• In a two-partner project, neither partner may perform more than 70% of total project person-months.
• In projects with more than two partners, no single partner may perform more than 50%.
• Participating research organisations together may not perform more than 50% of total person-months.

Eligible Types of Businesses and Organisations

Germany:

• SMEs meeting the EU definition.
• Medium-sized companies with fewer than 500 employees.
• Companies with 500–999 employees where they cooperate with at least one funded EU-defined SME.
• Research and technology organisations participating as partners of eligible companies.

Sweden:

• Small companies with 1–49 employees and annual turnover or balance-sheet total not exceeding €10 million.
• Medium-sized companies with 50–249 employees and annual turnover not exceeding €50 million or balance-sheet total not exceeding €43 million.
• Companies with 250–499 employees, treated as large companies under State-aid rules.
• Swedish universities, higher-education institutions and research organisations.
• Companies with 500 or more employees may participate but do not receive Vinnova funding.

Eligible Countries

• Germany
• Sweden

The minimum consortium must contain:

• At least one eligible German SME.
• At least one eligible Swedish SME.
• The participating German and Swedish companies must be independent of one another.

Organisations from other countries may participate as additional partners but cannot receive funding from ZIM or Vinnova under this call.