Consulting & service
Development funds
EU, national and NRW development funds, together with competitions with relevance to the Metropole Ruhr
The state government of NRW, the national government and the European Union provide interesting subsidy and funding options for start-ups and companies. These may constitute immense financial start-up aid, as they generally offer particularly favourable conditions as far as interest rates, liability, duration and repayment are concerned, as well as strengthening security or own funds.Here is an exemplary list.
Competitions in the context of the Objective 2 programme
Competitions are a core component of the EU-NRW Regional Competitiveness and Employment 2007 - 2013 programme (Objective 2 programme (EFRD)). They are the central instrument for the selection of high-quality, innovative funding projects and the allotment of the funds of the programme. The goal is for the assisted projects to make a significant contribution towards raising the competitiveness and innovativeness of the economy in North Rhine-Westphalia, supporting the creation of employment in the process. At the same time, a contribution is also intended to be made to achieving equal opportunities.
All further information on framework conditions, procedures and contact partners can be found at
www.ziel2-nrw.de
To get an impression of the first experiences of the new competition rounds, the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia published an overview of the approved projects as of the reporting date of 31 May 2009 sorted by municipality.
Overview of the regional allocation of projects and approvals (German)
NRW.Bank - the development bank for NRW
NRW.BANK is the development bank for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. As a non-competitive partner to banks and savings banks, it employs the entire spectrum of banking support products - in the promotion of start-ups and medium-sized companies, social habitat assistance, municipal and infrastructure financing and individual assistance.
www.lbnrw.de
Go! The NRW start-up network
Public assistance loans of the state, German government and European Union can help to make the financing concept for a convincing and sustainable idea become reality. An overview of financial start-up assistance is offered at Go! Das Gründungsnetzwerk NRW.
www.go.nrw.de/...
EU research and innovation support programmes
Between 2007 and 2013 the EU is providing over 50 billion euros in the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), together with approximately 3.6 billion euros in the EU Framework Programme for Competitiveness and Innovation (CIP). The goal here is to motivate research and companies towards innovation and intensive co-operation. State-of-the-art technologies and premium know-how will consequently be developed at a European level in the future. The NRW FP7 CIP portal offers beginners and experts processed information and tips detailing who can provide assistance, and where.
www.frp.nrw.de
Advisory portal - Beamte4U
The advisory portal Beamte4U provides employees with information regarding support options available when hiring the long-term unemployed. In this contribution the different support opportunities available to employees from the employment agencies are illustrated. These include the integration allowances for employers in the case of start-ups, of particular interest to those launching their own companies.
www.beamte4u.de/foerdermittel1.html
Support database of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour
With the support database of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour the federal government provides a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the support programmes of the federal and state governments, as well as the European Union.
www.foerderdatenbank.de
Chambers of Industry and Commerce
The chambers of industry and commerce (IHK) represent the interests of their affiliated companies. They offer a range of services and information. Personal contact partners can be researched in the address search of wmr.
www.dihk.de
KfW Mittelstandsbank
The homepage of KfW Mittelstandsbank contains information on development and support programmes in the fields of corporate financing, start-ups and equity financing.
www.kfw-mittelstandsbank.de
Overview of support programmes
The internet site subventionen.de provides entrepreneurs and founders with a free overview of the most interesting support programmes of the EU, national government and individual federal states. In addition, it also contains information on a number of key themes as well as daily-updated news.
www.subventionen.de
Landes-Gewerbeförderungsstelle des nordrhein-westfälischen Handwerks (LGH)
LGH is a joint service institution set up by both the chambers and the confederations of skilled trades in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It provides practical tips and information on consulting and assistance in skilled trades in North Rhine-Westphalia.
www.lgh.de
Start2grow - start-up competition
The start2grow initiative (dortmund-project) stages three competitions for founders each year. The design and implementation of these start-up competitions aims specifically at addressing the various requirements of the different sectors. One start-up competition is aimed at founders from the field of information technology, another deals exclusively with the microtechnology sector. The third competition in the annual start2grow series is open to start-up ideas from all sectors.
www.start2grow.de/de/home/
Businessplan Wettbewerb in der Medizinwirtschaft
This business plan competition for the medical sector - with a focus on the Metropole Ruhr – is an annual opportunity for innovative business ideas from the medical sector to present themselves, provided these possess the necessary growth and employment creation potential and can be developed into mature business plans within the space of three months. The competition is broken down into two stages. In the first phase a rough business plan is drafted with the assistance of experts, the second phase is the detailed refining of that plan. The competition is open to founders and companies that have been in existence for a maximum of twelve months. Founder teams are particularly welcome.
www.startbahn-ruhr.de
Wissenschaftspreis 2008
The Industrie-Club Düsseldorf as patron is collaborating with the Wissenschaftszentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen for the eleventh time to host the science prize of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. With prize money of 20,000 euros, the aim of the Wissenschaftspreis is to help close the gap between basic research and innovation in application. The prize is awarded in twelve scientific disciplines, which alternate annually. In 2008 it will be awarded for outstanding research work with the focus on ‘Physics - from basic research to application’.
www.wz.nrw.de/wz/veran/wispreis/ausschr.htm