What does the AiF actually do?

Four updated publications provide brief and compact information on the Industrial Collective Research (Industrielle Gemeinschaftsforschung IGF), the activities of the AiF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen / Federation of Industrial Research Associations) and the funding measures it supports:

• Forscher Mittelstand: Die AiF im Profil (AiF Profile)
• Erfolgreich mit Industrieller Gemeinschaftsforschung (About IGF)
• Zahlen / Daten / Fakten (Facts & Figures)
• Daten / Fakten / Köpfe (The People Behind AiF)

A link to download the publications can be found at the bottom of this page.

What is its research funding used for?

In 2021, a total of 557.7 million euros in public funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz BMWK) for the benefit of small and medium-sized enterprises flowed through the AiF into more than 10,000 research and development projects. Of this, 195.4 million euros went to pre-competitive Industrial Collective Research (IGF) and of this, 9.6 million euros (4.9 %) went to the international funding programme CORNET.

In the distribution of disbursed funding by federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia leads clearly with €55.3 million, ahead of Saxony (€29.3 million) and Baden-Württemberg (€26.3 million).

Among the technology fields of the funded research projects, »Nanotechnologies / Materials« are by far in the lead. They received 16.32 % of the available funds. »Energy technology, energy conversion, energy efficiency / renewable energies« follow in 6th place with 5.90 %. »Vehicle and transport technologies, including drive technology« received 5.08 %, »Maritime technologies« 0.57 %.

The FVV received €6.8 million in 2021 for projects in Industrial Collective Research and would like to thank the funding bodies for their support.