Consortium

• At least one company from France and one young, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) from Germany, independent from each other, each providing substantial R&D contributions to the project.
• Research and technology organisations (RTO) and other (large) companies are welcome as additional partners or subcontractors, in accordance with each country's funding schemes.
• Companies and/or RTOs from other countries may participate; they are not funded by Bpifrance or ZIM, but must be included in the Proposal Application Form.

Balance of the work

• Two cooperating partners: no partner may contribute more than 70% of total person-months.
• More than two cooperating partners: no partner may contribute more than 50% of total person-months.
• All RTOs together may not contribute more than 50% of total person-months.

France

• Eligible beneficiaries: French companies up to 2,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs). Large companies above 2,000 FTEs are not eligible for public funding.
• French partners may participate on a self-funding basis.
• No direct funding for French universities or research institutions (self-funded or subcontractors).

Germany

• All SMEs with a presence or branch in Germany (EU definition), and medium-sized companies with fewer than 500 employees (FTE) that carry out R&D for innovative products, processes or technical services.
• Other medium-sized companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, if they cooperate with at least one German SME whose project is funded.
• RTOs, as cooperation partners of eligible companies (non-economic activity, with recognised scientific competence and at least ten qualified R&D staff in Germany).
• Under the ZIM guideline, research organisations' share must be at least 10% of the project's eligible costs.
• No ZIM funding if the cooperating partners are partner or linked companies under the EU definition, if the project started or agreements between partners became legally binding before the application was received, or if the work is done on behalf of a third party. A company can receive at most two ZIM R&D projects within twelve months.

Project

• Duration: no more than three years (36 months).

Timeline

Before submission

• French partners (SMEs and mid-caps up to 2,000 employees) must contact their Bpifrance chargé d'affaires innovation, with international.innoproject@bpifrance.fr in copy, to check their eligibility for a Bpifrance innovation aid. The Bpifrance en Ligne account is opened with the help of the chargé d'affaires.
• German partners also contact their funding body before submission. ZIM recommends a consultation with the responsible project management agency, or an informal project outline for preliminary review.
• The electronically fillable Proposal Application Form is sent on request: an empty email to get.frankreich@aif-projekt-gmbh.de returns the latest version within minutes.

Submission: two simultaneous steps

1. Joint Proposal Application Form (in English), filled out and signed by all organisations participating in the project, sent by email to AiF Projekt GmbH (zim-international@aif-projekt-gmbh.de) and Bpifrance (international.innoproject@bpifrance.fr), by 18 November 2026 inclusive.
2. National applications, before the call deadline, by every partner who wants funding: each French partner on its Bpifrance en Ligne space, validated by its Bpifrance regional office, with all mandatory appendices and the short project title used in the joint form; each German partner an individual ZIM application, written in German, through the Förderzentrale Deutschland (the applications of all German cooperation partners should be submitted within two weeks of each other, ideally together).

A Consortium Agreement is drafted (not yet signed) by the German and French consortium members.

The ZIM page of this call also shows a notice of a temporary stop of ZIM applications since 7 July 2026, without saying whether it applies to this call: German partners should check with AiF Projekt GmbH.

Bpifrance and AiF Projekt GmbH assist the French and German partners during submission, evaluation and implementation. Applicants are strongly encouraged to consult their national funding agency at an early stage.

No score or threshold is published. Each funding agency assesses its own national partners under its own scheme, and the minimum requirements of the call (consortium composition, balance of person-months, new product, process or service aimed at the market, added value of the cooperation, duration) apply to every proposal.

Germany: what ZIM checks (ZIM guideline, section 4)

• Incentive effect: without funding the project would not be carried out, or only with a clear delay, a smaller scope or lower spending.
• A significant technical risk, and a demanding level of innovation that durably raises the companies' competitiveness, opens new market opportunities and creates value.
• New products, processes or technical services that clearly surpass existing ones in their functions, parameters or features and are oriented on the international state of the art; at least the conditions of experimental development are met.
• A balanced partnership in which all partners deliver innovative work and the companies intend to market the results jointly (70% / 50% person-month caps).
• A market introduction concept: the project objective described in an understandable and verifiable way, with clear technical and economic target criteria, updated in the interim and final reports.
• Partners with the technological, financial and staff capacity to carry out the project and exploit its results.
• Excluded: projects without a technological concept or with too little R&D and technical risk, routine changes to existing products, and largely risk-free use of existing technologies.

ZIM decides on the quality and completeness of the application and on funding priorities, on a competitive basis.

France

Bpifrance first checks each French partner's eligibility for an innovation aid through its chargé d'affaires; its assessment criteria are not published in the call documents.

Selected applicants are informed of the results and of the amount of funding by their own funding agency no later than four months after project submission.

Each partner is financed by its own national scheme and supplements this with its own resources. A positive funding decision by one national funding body does not imply a positive decision by the other, and does not bind the other national scheme.

France (Bpifrance)

• French SMEs and mid-caps (up to 2,000 employees) request an innovation aid from their Bpifrance regional office, from EUR 50,000 to EUR 3 million per French partner, within the limit of its own equity. The form is chosen according to the project, for example a Prêt Innovation R&D, a Prêt Sans Garantie or a subsidised-rate R&D loan (ADI, Aide pour le Développement de l'Innovation).
• Eligible costs: industrial research and experimental development. Industrialisation and commercialisation costs are not eligible.
• If the company's project is considered Deeptech, the funding could be different; all French funding conditions can be adapted to the company's profile and project.
• French academic partners are not eligible for this funding but can take part as subcontractors.
• Any payment is subject to a signed consortium agreement.

Germany (ZIM)

• Non-repayable grant covering a share of the eligible costs. Funding rates for cooperation projects with foreign partners: 60% for small companies in structurally weak regions and for small young companies (under ten years), 55% for other small companies, 50% for medium-sized companies, 40% for larger companies under 500 or 1,000 employees. Non-economic research organisations: 100%.
• Eligible costs per project: up to EUR 560,000 per company and EUR 280,000 per research organisation; the grant for the whole cooperation project is capped at EUR 3 million.
• Personnel costs: salary costs up to EUR 150,000 per person and year. Contracts to third parties: up to 35% of direct personnel costs. All other costs: capped at 100% of personnel costs for companies (85% for research organisations). External consultancy for the application is not eligible.
• Payments are made afterwards, every three months, on the costs actually incurred; 10% of the grant is retained until the final proof of use.

Partners from other countries

• Not funded by Bpifrance or ZIM.

• Before applying, a French partner can apply to a Diagnostic Partenariat Technologique International if it plans to work with an external expert to build its consortium, project or application: a grant covering up to 50% of the expert's services, up to EUR 25,000 excluding VAT (limit depending on whether the company is the consortium leader).
• Partner search: Bpifrance can help through the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN); the ZIM page also points to Germany Trade & Invest, the Franco-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the French Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Germany.
• Contacts: Bpifrance (international.innoproject@bpifrance.fr) for France; AiF Projekt GmbH, ZIM project management agency (zim-international@aif-projekt-gmbh.de, www.zim.de/international) for Germany.

The call sets no IP rule of its own beyond the Consortium Agreement, which must cover the protection and use of intellectual property rights (background and foreground), joint commercialisation and revenue sharing, and, when German research organisations take part, their right to publish their own results without the consent of the other partners.

A Consortium Agreement governing the cooperation between all partners (in English) must be drafted, but not yet signed, at submission. Its minimum content:

• Specification of all project partners.
• Description of the project aims, scope, role division and differentiation of the subprojects of the partners, including their work plans in person-months (the joint Proposal Application Form can alternatively be declared part of the agreement).
• A clause that provides for all partners to be informed if third parties are involved in the project.
• Provisions on the protection and use of intellectual property rights (background and foreground).
• Basic provisions on joint commercialisation and revenue sharing.
• Final reporting in accordance with the regulations set by ZIM and Bpifrance.
• If research organisations from Germany are involved, a provision allowing them to publish their own results without requiring the consent of the other partners.

The agreement must be consistent with the terms and conditions for funding of Bpifrance and ZIM. After a positive decision, French partners provide Bpifrance with a copy of the draft before signing it and once again after signing it; German partners confirm to their ZIM project management agency, with their first payment request, that the agreement has been concluded.

Final reporting is done in accordance with the regulations set by ZIM and Bpifrance. French partners send Bpifrance the consortium agreement before and after signing; German partners confirm its conclusion with their first payment request.

The joint Proposal Application Form (in English) is the only document shared by both funders. It contains:

• General information: acronym, title (160 characters), summary (1,000 characters), technological area, market area, start date, end date, project duration, and a table of estimated project costs per participant (filled automatically).
• One section per project partner (up to eight; partner no. 5 is the project coordinator): organisation details, main contact person, organisation type, short description of the organisation (160 characters), short description of expertise and business sector (1,000 characters), title of the subproject (160 characters), short description of the technical contribution in contrast to the other partners' subprojects (1,000 characters), estimated cost contribution (personnel, other costs, subcontracting costs R&D), and the detailed contribution per work package (up to ten work packages: realisation time, person-months, description of the work package or role of the partner in shared work packages, 250 characters each).
• A Gantt chart giving an overview of the overall working plan of all partners, added as an appendix.

The detailed technical description is part of each national application. In Germany, the ZIM application contains the description of the project (rationale and objectives of the project and its effects, planning of the work), information on the cooperation partners, the personnel and costs, the solvency and financing of the own contribution, and a market introduction concept. The template of the French application (Bpifrance en Ligne) is not part of the call documents.

• Letter of intent in the joint form, signed by the authorised representative of each legal entity applying for a project grant (internal authorisations obtained, information complete and correct, commitment to cooperate, stable and sufficient funds, necessary resources).
• National application of each partner seeking funding, with the mandatory appendices of its national scheme.

No separate budget template. The joint form asks each partner for its estimated cost contribution in euros, split into personnel, other costs and subcontracting costs R&D, and for its person-months per work package. The detailed budget is part of each national application.