To curb the spread of COVID-19: €500m for ventilation equipment in public buildings and places where people meet Applications can be submitted to the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control from 20 October 2020 for federal funding towards the COVID-19-appropriate conversion and upgrading of ventilation equipment in public buildings and places where people meet.

Economic Affairs Minister Peter Altmaier said: “COVID-19 is there, and it’s going to stay around for at least the next few months. In addition to what each one of us can do to avoid infection, we also need to equip our buildings to ensure that as few people as possible catch the disease there. For this reason, we are now quickly helping our municipalities and the Länder to upgrade their air-conditioning and ventilation equipment in order to avoid infections. In this way, we aim to help prevent coronavirus from being passed on in public buildings – in the interest of the employees and of the citizens using the buildings.”

Torsten Safarik, President of the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, added: “People visiting public buildings and meeting places need to be particularly well-protected against catching COVID-19. The new funding can be used to convert or upgrade existing equipment and thus help to deliver effective protection against infection. Back in the spring, the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control rapidly rolled out the Economic Affairs Ministry’s funding programme for facemasks and the materials needed for facemasks in a non-bureaucratic way. The new programme forms part of the comprehensive package of measures which Federal Minister Altmaier has set in motion to fight the pandemic and its consequences.”

Ventilation equipment provides rooms with fresh and/or recirculating air, meaning that it can make an important contribution towards curbing the spread of coronavirus. The measures that can be funded include not only the purchase and installation of anti-viral filter technology but also substantial rebuilding work. For example, equipment designed to recirculate air can be upgraded to supply fresh air. Funding is also available for the retrofitting of metering technology to improve equipment control.

Grants are being made available for the conversion and upgrading of permanently installed on-site ventilation equipment. The grant amounts to 40% of the eligible spending, up to a maximum of €100,000 per installation. The Federation is providing a total of €500 million in funding. Applications can be made for example by municipalities, Länder, higher education institutions and public-sector enterprises. Applications for funding can be made until 31 December 2021.

The guidelines (in German) can be found here (PDF, 122 KB) (in German).