Intellectual property rights support innovation—because only those who can profit from their own inventions will invest effort and resources in research and development. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy therefore supports companies and research institutions in filing patent applications.
With the "WIPANO – Knowledge and Technology Transfer through Patents and Standards" project, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) supports companies and public research institutions in patenting and commercializing their ideas. The program succeeds the previous programs "SIGNO – Protection of Ideas for Commercial Use," "TNS – Transfer of Research and Development Results through Standardization," and "INS – Innovation with Norms and Standards."
Companies can apply from April until December 31, 2019—there are no fixed deadlines. Universities and non-university, publicly funded research institutions can apply now.
Application can be submitted online
Depending on whether the applicant is a company or a research institution, different funding rates are available on the path to a recognized intellectual property right. Application is made via the form system "easy-Online“
You can find further information here.
