New funding program for biogenic resources

With its new funding program “innovate! Fund”, the Joachim Herz Foundation will provide three interdisciplinary research teams developing biogenic resources with up to one million euros each. This funding will be made available to projects taking a high-risk approach and with a clear transfer orientation that shows potential to contribute significantly to a fossil-free future. Applications can be submitted until April 30, 2025.

This year, the Joachim Herz Foundation will provide more than five million euros in total in funding for practice-oriented research projects with a concrete benefit to a fossil-free future.

Biogenic resources play a key role in a fossil-free future, as they offer renewable alternatives to fossil raw materials and can be used in a variety of ways. For example, they can be used in the production of sustainable building materials or more durable industrial goods and as a source of energy. These new resources can play a key role in the energy transition and the development of a sustainable economy.

Through its “innovate! Fund”, the Joachim Herz Foundation will support research projects developing innovative ways to end our dependence on fossil resources. “Too many projects fall through the cracks between basic research and market maturity. We need innovative ideas from science, for example, to enable the efficient use of biogenic residual and waste materials such as cereal straw. With the “innovate! Fund”, we promote researchers working in interdisciplinary teams who are rethinking the future and taking an application-oriented approach to their work,” says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. Sabine Kunst, Chair of the Joachim Herz Foundation.

innovate! Fund: requirements, funding and application

The funding program “innovate! Fund” is aimed at teams consisting of at least three postdoctoral researchers from different disciplines with a focus on the natural sciences or engineering. The groups must belong to a research institution in northern Germany; this includes the federal states of Brandenburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein.

The Joachim Herz Foundation will provide up to three projects with support of up to one million euros each over a maximum period of five years. This support is aimed at research projects with a clear transfer approach. The “innovate! Fund” offers researchers great freedom as it requires a low degree of administration and reporting.

The two-stage selection process will take place in summer 2025. The evaluation process will include the principle of “idea before reputation”, i.e. transfer and innovation-oriented criteria will carry the same weight as more traditional academic evaluation criteria. The funding phase begins on November 1, 2025.

Detailed information on the “innovate! Fund” and the online application can be found at www.joachim-herz-stiftung.de/innovate-fund.

The deadline for application is April 30, 2025.