Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund

In principle, the Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund is open to all innovative approaches that serve a climate-friendly city. In particular, the Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund addresses transformative and interdisciplinary projects that serve climate protection and/or climate impact adaptation on a significant scale.

The projects should take a novel approach or, in the case of technical innovations, surpass the state of the art. The Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund supports a variety of types of innovations:

• technical (e.g., new or improved products),
• process-related (e.g. optimized implementation),
• economic (e.g. new business models),
• societal (e.g. consumer behavior) or
• organizational (e.g., new ways of integrating different players) innovations
• as well as diverse combinations of such approaches
• and completely novel ideas.

The Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund is divided into three funding lines and, with funding amounts ranging from 25,000 euros to one million euros, enables tailored funding from local initiatives to large companies. All projects are implemented in Stuttgart within up to 36 months. The grants are linked to the success of the project and are paid out based on results.

Weasel" funding line

• Grant amount 25,000 to 99,999 euros
• Location of the applicant: Stuttgart
• Application procedure: two application phases per year

Fox" funding line

• Grant amount: 100,000 to 499,999 euros
• Location of the applicant: Baden-Württemberg
• Application mode: one application phase per year

Stag" funding line

• Grant amount: 500,000 to 1,000,000 euros
• Location of the applicant: Europe
• Application procedure: one application phase per year, two-stage procedure with funded 2nd stage

Ivy" funding line

• Grant amount: 25,000 to 499,999 euros
• Location of the applicant: Europe
• Application procedure: Two application phases per year
• Special line for nature-based solutions for climate impact adaptation
• Technical support for projects of The Nature Conservancy

Applications can be submitted by universities, companies, initiatives and organizations, but not by private individuals. All projects must be implemented in Stuttgart within a maximum of 36 months. The maximum grant amount is 90 percent (for companies 50 to 70 percent). The regional condition of the respective funding line must be observed.

The projects are evaluated and selected by an interdisciplinary panel of experts. The Stuttgart Climate Innovation Council selects the projects worthy of funding based on fixed evaluation criteria (degree of innovation, climate impact, business case, scaling potential).

The Stuttgart Climate Innovation Council, coordinated by the Climate Protection Office, is made up of the following high-caliber individuals:

• Prof. Dr. Jörn Birkmann, Professor at the University of Stuttgart.
• Steffen Braun, head of the Urban System Design research area at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO
• Dr. Anna Braune, Head of Research and Development at the German Sustainable Building Council
• Katharina Hopp, Corporate Vice President IT & Consulting Lead Mobility Solutions at Robert Bosch GmbH
• Santa Meyer-Nandi, founder of the blog Finding Sustainia
• Prof. Dr. Bastian Schröter, Professor at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences
• Katrin-Cécile Ziegler, digital economist, journalist, lecturer at the Nürtingen University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Additionally for the line "Ivy":

• Prof. Dr. Leonie Fischer, head of the Institute for Landscape Planning and Ecology at the University of Stuttgart
• Dr. Robert McDonald, chief scientist for nature-based solutions at The Nature Conservancy.

The current funding round is running!

Further funding rounds are planned for 2025. More information will follow.

Please follow possible updates here on the homepage and on our  Linkedin page (opens in a new tab).

The current application forms can be found at the bottom of the page in the download area.

A project plan and a detailed cost breakdown must be submitted as an attachment to the application form. Companies should also enclose the de minimis declaration. Project partners please complete and attach the "Confirmation of project partners" form.