Rural Development Programme (ELR) – Top in Rural Areas! Technology Leaders for Baden-Württemberg

The funding program "Top in Rural Areas! Technology Leaders for Baden-Württemberg" targets innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas of Baden-Württemberg. The goal is to support their path to technology leadership through investments in innovative production processes and products.

Comprehensive business investments in buildings, machinery, and equipment that directly or indirectly serve the development and economic utilization of new or improved proprietary products and services are funded. The program supports companies that can contribute to Baden-Württemberg's technology leadership due to their competence and innovative capacity.

Funding is provided as a grant from the state of Baden-Württemberg. The amount of the grant varies depending on the company size and the project's contribution to specific goals, with a maximum funding amount set per project.

Specific legal and substantive requirements apply to the application and implementation of the project, which must be met by companies and municipalities. These include compliance with program-specific guidelines and consideration of EU horizontal objectives.

The application procedure is two-stage and requires close cooperation with the responsible municipality. Project selection is carried out semi-annually by an evaluation committee that submits a decision proposal to the Ministry.

The funding is based on the call for applications from the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection Baden-Württemberg and the administrative regulation for the Rural Development Programme (ELR). It is also embedded in the regulations of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).