The Bundestag today approved the 2020 federal budget, including the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Next year, the Ministry will have €9.21 billion at its disposal. This represents a rise of €1.022 billion over 2019, or an increase of 12.4 per cent.

Federal Minister Altmaier said: “The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy’s budget sends a clear signal for forward-looking technologies and the future of our economy: from electric mobility and battery cell production, to funding for SMEs and artificial intelligence, through to strengthening the regions that are affected by structural change. In 2020, we will continue to work to secure and raise growth, prosperity and the number of jobs in Germany and Europe.”

For the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, expanding digitalisation and promoting artificial intelligence (AI) continue to be key priorities. Work to digitalise the SME sector will go on to receive even greater funding. From 2020, the new programme entitled ‘Investment grants for digitalising SMEs’ will provide €40 million for this purpose. The federal ministries will share a total of €500 million for artificial intelligence, of which the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy will receive €123.4 million up to 2023. Thanks to these extra funds, the Ministry will be able to continue to implement its measures in the field of AI as planned. Around €19 million will be available for the GAIA-X project in 2020. This will enable the foundations to be laid for creating a networked, autonomous European data infrastructure.

In addition to digitalisation, it is a central priority for Germany to strengthen new technologies in its economy. This is why a total of around €1.5 billion from the Energy and Climate Fund has been earmarked for establishing battery-cell production in Germany and Europe up to 2023. The funds are to be used to promote a whole range of projects at German companies throughout the country. The goal is to develop innovative, high-performance and environmentally friendly batteries “Made in Germany” which are above all needed to power electric mobility.

In addition, the German aerospace industry is to be given a further boost. This sector is a driver of technology and of the economy in Germany as it generates advances in robotics and provides satellite navigation systems for new digital business models for example. From 2020, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy will fund 8 new institutes operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which will serve to strengthen Germany as a centre for research. The National Space Programme will receive an additional €11 million in 2020.

To implement the measures in the Act on structural change, the Federal Government will now have €1 billion at its disposal – twice the amount that was originally allocated. This ensures that it will be able to provide comprehensive support for the regions affected by structural change.

You can find an overview of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy’s 2020 budget (in German) here (PDF, 491 KB).