The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) recommends that "gender equality", "non-discrimination" and "sustainable development" be taken into account more strongly than before in the applications for EXIST start-up grants and EXIST research transfer. Adjustments are also planned, such as an increase in the child allowance for parents’ care costs.
The BMWK will continue the EXIST Start-up Grant and EXIST Research Transfer funding lines beyond 2022 with the participation of the European Social Fund (ESF). To this end, the programme guidelines are currently being revised, taking into account the results of the programme evaluation and feedback from the nationwide EXIST start-up ecosystem. In anticipation of the new funding period, the application requirements and evaluation criteria for applications for the EXIST start-up grant will initially be specified in concrete terms with regard to the fulfilment of the ESF cross-sectional objectives from 1 May 2022. From 1 July 2022, this will also apply to the submission of outline ideas in the EXIST Research Transfer programme.
The quality of the content of the application or the start-up project with regard to innovation, business model, market and financing remains decisive for the evaluation of the outlines and applications. In addition, the founding team as the central success factor for a start-up is given a higher priority in the evaluation. Start-up research, investors and also many years of experience in supporting start-ups from academia prove that interdisciplinary and diverse teams that also consistently pursue sustainability goals develop more successfully in the long term. This should be taken into account more than before.
Equality, non-discrimination and sustainability
The project executing agency therefore recommends that the contribution of the start-up projects to the fulfilment of the ESF cross-sectional objectives: “Equality between women and men”, “Non-discrimination” and “Sustainable development” should be given greater consideration in the applications or outlines. It should also be described how these goals are anchored in the corporate culture of the planned start-ups. The contribution of the start-up projects to the fulfilment of the Federal Government’s sustainability goals should be described qualitatively and quantitatively.
In the past, the BMKW has gradually adapted the funding guidelines and the support of the programme, for example to increase the proportion of female founders in the start-up teams. Since the start of the EXIST start-up grant in 2007, the annual share of women in the grant recipients has been between nine and 15 percent, according to the BMKW. Since 2018, it said, there has been an annual increase in the proportion of women from 13 to 16 per cent in 2019, from 19 per cent in 2020 and now 21 per cent last year. According to the BMWK, the proportion of women in the relevant STEM subjects has now also risen to around 30 per cent. In spring 2021, the external evaluator “Ramboll Management Consulting” certified that the EXIST funding programme has an above-average quota of women. However, the consulting firm recommends further adjustments to the funding programme to maintain this positive development.
In general, the EXIST funding programme should become more family-friendly in order to be able to support women with family responsibilities in particular. For example, it should be possible in future to extend spin-off projects if female team members have children. The supplement for the costs of caring for parents in the funding projects is also to be increased. Female role models and more gender-sensitive language are to be used to improve the approach to women willing to start a business.
EXIST is a funding programme of the BMWK and supports university graduates, scientists and students in preparing their start-up. The instructions for submitting applications and structuring the idea papers and project descriptions have been adapted accordingly and are available on the EXIST homepage. Start of the new evaluation criteria:
for applications in the “EXIST-Gründerstipendium” programme line: from 01.05.2022
for outlines in the “EXIST Research Transfer” programme line: from 01.07.2022
