Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings

The Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings in Berlin targets legal entities, partnerships, as well as self-employed individuals and freelancers based in Germany who organize sustainable conferences and congresses for a professional audience in Berlin. The program aims to strengthen Berlin's conference and congress industry, promote sustainability and digitalization in the event sector, and maintain Berlin's profile as a leading international congress and science metropolis.

The Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings supports the organization of events in Berlin that are exclusively aimed at a professional audience and meet strict sustainability criteria. These include conferences, congresses, seminars, and training courses that can be held in in-person, hybrid, or decentralized formats. Excluded are trade fairs, events for private individuals, or those already publicly funded by other means.

Funding from the Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings is granted as a non-repayable subsidy. The basic funding amount is 25 Euros per in-person participant per event day. For hybrid or decentralized events, an additional supplement of 10 Euros per in-person participant per day can be granted, bringing the maximum funding to 35 Euros per participant per day. The maximum funding sum per event is limited to 99,950 Euros.

To receive funding from the Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings, applicants must meet various conditions. These include that the event must be exclusively for a professional audience in Berlin, have at least 50 in-person participants, and achieve a certain score from the Sustainable Event Scorecard. The start of the measure may only occur after confirmation of application receipt, and the funding is subject to the De minimis rule. Certain expenses are excluded from funding.

The application procedure for the Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings is carried out electronically via the IBB customer portal. Applicants must submit a complete application with all required documents before the start of the measure. The approval of the grant is at the discretion of Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) and within the scope of available budget funds. Disbursement is based on proof of actual participant numbers and fulfillment of sustainability criteria.

The funding program 'Congress Fund for Sustainable Meetings' is legitimized by the guideline of the same name dated March 1, 2024. It is based on the State Budget Ordinance (LHO) and the General Ancillary Provisions for Grants for Project Funding (ANBest-P). The funding is also granted as De minimis aid in accordance with the applicable EU regulation.