This national BMFTR guideline funds research projects under INSIGHT II to assess intended and unintended consequences of technological and social innovations across short- and mid-term futures. The program explicitly requires interdisciplinary and, where useful, transdisciplinary perspectives that combine natural and engineering sciences with social, ethical, legal, economic and political analyses, including implications for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Core objectives include (i) actionable insights and policy-relevant recommendations for anticipatory governance (measured e.g. by stakeholder dialogues and publications aimed at policy/administration), (ii) raising the quality and depth of public debate via broad participation and science communication (e.g. workshops, citizen engagement, media uptake), (iii) increasing perspective diversity within the scientific discourse (e.g. interdisciplinary publications, conferences, diversity of stakeholders/partners), and (iv) strengthening the innovation impact assessment community (method and theory contributions, networking). The call covers two defined themes and one open field: Theme 1 “New generation of AI – impacts on social interaction, arts and culture” (focusing on societal/systemic effects of generative AI and emerging AI agents; NOT on technical AI R&D nor on projects primarily producing AI art), Theme 2 “Human Enhancement” (non-medically indicated interventions and devices for self-optimization; societal, ethical, legal, economic impacts; excludes purely medical therapies and trivial self-tracking), and Theme 3 “Open field” (avant-garde, exploratory topics incl. weak signals, unconventional innovation paths, exnovation; social and technological innovation). Themes 1–2 are funded exclusively as collaborative consortium projects due to scope and required breadth; the open field allows both single-beneficiary and consortia. Eligible applicants include universities, non-university research organisations, companies (esp. SMEs) and civil society organisations; a German establishment is required at payment time. Project grants are non-repayable for up to 24 months. Maximum funding: up to 800.000 Euro for Themes 1–2; up to 400.000 Euro for the open field (amounts include possible university overhead). Economic activities are funded on a cost basis within state-aid limits (AGVO/GBER Article 25); non-economic research can be funded up to 100% of eligible expenses; universities receive an additional 20% project flat rate for non-economic research. Science communication is explicitly eligible. The procedure is two-stage: project sketch (Stufe 1) followed by a full proposal upon invitation (Stufe 2). For Stage 1, project sketches must be submitted electronically in German via easy-Online by 3 November 2025, 12:00. Evaluation criteria include relevance to the call’s objectives, societal/political significance and future orientation, scientific quality/originality, degree of interdisciplinarity and perspective diversity, quality of exploitation/transfer and science communication, project management, and plausibility of budget. Open Access is encouraged for publications; networking and joint dissemination across funded projects is mandatory. State-aid compliance under De-minimis and/or AGVO applies as specified in the annex.

Opening: 08.09.2025
Deadline(s): 03.11.2025