Two new funding programmes for Berlin companies

With the help of “<link http://www.ibb.de/wachsen/berlinmittelstand.aspx>Mittelstand 4.0</link>” Berlin-based companies can prepare themselves for the digital world. Companies with up to 3,000 employees as well as freelancers developing primarily industry 4.0 solutions and digitisation measures are eligible for funding. The low-interest loans range between two and six million euros and will be provided by the borrower's bank; after a repeated credit check IBB will assume 60 percent of the credit risk.

The application for “<link http://www.ibb.de/berlininnovativ.aspx>Berlin Innovativ</link>” – a follow-up product of “Berlin Kredit Innovativ” – must be filed with the borrower's bank, too. In this case, IBB will bear liability for 70 percent of the credit sums ranging from 100,000 to two million euros. Startups and innovative medium-sized companies, in particular, are eligible for funding. The money is to be used for investments in operating materials.

It is the aim of the funding programmes to increase the competitiveness of Berlin-based companies. Only at the end of September Cornelia Yzer, Senator for Economic Affairs, had noted that “the concept of re-industrialisation through digitisation” was obviously working. While in the first half of 2016 real gross domestic product increased by 2.3 percent across Germany, the growth rate in Berlin came in at 2.6 percent. Yzer is even hoping for total annual growth of 3 percent. The new funding helps ensure that these growth rates will continue over the coming years.