18.01.2021
Many German companies are lagging behind in digitization by international standards. This is particularly true for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of the German economy.
For this reason, the German government launched a new funding program for the digitization of SMEs in September: "Digital Jetzt - Investitionsförderung für KMU" (Digital Now - Investment Support for SMEs). This program could be an attractive additional incentive for digitization, especially for RFID projects. Unfortunately, the federal government is not providing sufficient funds. Just a few hours after the first opening of the registration portal, the funding pot was empty. The reopening was then postponed until the end of November. In the meantime, we are in mid-January and the registration page states that a draw will be held monthly on the 15th among those who have registered. For the draw on Jan. 15, €5 million was available and that was with 8,000 registered companies. In other words: there was a 1:80 chance of being drawn for funding. Too bad! Perhaps the German government will realize in the course of the next year that digitization is not a game of chance and that it should take digitization seriously.
Since we do not want to give up hope and the funding program is cleverly structured in terms of content, we would like to present it at this point.
The guidelines for the funding program stipulate that funding is primarily provided for investments in hardware and software for the purpose of
- Digitization of business processes
- Establishment of digital business models
- Increasing IT security.
Explicitly mentioned as eligible for funding are Big Data and sensor technology (e.g. RFID).
In particular, the following are not supported
- Standard software (e.g. operating systems and MS Office)
- Standard hardware (e.g. notebooks)
- Services (exception: training, prerequisite QM certification)
In order for the funding to be approved, the applicant must submit a digitization plan that describes how the requested investments will help with the above-mentioned digitization goals. In our view, there are 2 options for this:
- The company writes their own digitization plan.
The company hires external specialists. For this purpose, there are specialized consultants distributed regionally who can bill their services, for example, via a grant from BAFA or via the "Go digital" funding program. If necessary, we can provide the relevant contacts.
How much funding does "Digital Now" provide?
The funding rates vary according to the size of the company (number of employees) and region. In addition, there are bonus funding rates for individual topics, so that the funding rates can be 30% to 70% until 30.6.2021. From 1.7.2021, these 10% points will be lower. In total, the funding can amount to up to €50,000.
|
until 30.6.2021 |
from 1.7.2021 |
|
|
up to 50 employees (full-time) |
50 % |
40 % |
|
up to 250 employees |
45 % |
35 % |
|
up to 499 employees |
40 % |
30 % |
- + 10 % bonus in structurally weak regions
- + 5 % bonus for value chains / networks
- + 5 % bonus for focus on IT security/data protection
A cleverly chosen path with, unfortunately, a bit too few provisions... Are there alternatives to digitization? Probably mostly "no". Are there alternative funding programs for digitization? "Yes and no" - there are, for example, a great many regional funding pots - depending on the federal state. If you are wondering whether RFID implementation might be subsidized in your region, just contact us or send us an e-mail to vertrieb@sys-pro.de.
