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The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) launched a call to submit projects in the field of cultural and creative innovations today. This is the second round of funding in the context of the Innovation Programme for Business Models and Pioneering Solutions (IGP).

Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, said: “Creativity is not only part of the name of the cultural and creative industries, it is also something very close to their heart! They have a great deal of innovative potential, which we can make even better use of for the German economy thanks to our modernised and expanded promotion of innovation. At the same time, we help innovative companies to develop forward-looking concepts that can outlive the difficult times of the Covid-19 crisis.”

The focus of the new call to submit projects is on new concepts in the fields of design, fashion, architecture and art, the music, broadcasting and film industries, and new ideas in the fields of journalism, advertising, the book market and the games industry. More detailed information on the new round of funding, including the applicable IGP guidelines (in German), can be found at www.bmwi.de/igp.

The IGP pilot funding is part of the transfer initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, which aims to identify barriers and gaps on the way from concept to market success, and remove and close them. The IGP expands the initiative with an innovation-policy focus to include non-technical fields in addition to technology research and development. For this purpose, a successful initial call to submit projects for digital and data-driven business models and pioneering solutions was launched last winter. A third call, which will address innovations for education and access to information with a particularly great social impact, is to be launched at the end of this year.