OpenSpace is a place for new ways of thinking, new research approaches and innovative socio-technological solutions. The focus is on developing future-proof approaches that promote the responsible use of key technologies, provide impetus for commercial exploitation, and take ecological and social criteria into account. This contributes to strengthening the future viability, resilience and sustainability of the economy, society and the state. Support is provided to universities of applied sciences for investment, research and testing of application-oriented demonstrators and socio-technical solutions, as well as for the transfer and scaling of results from the innovation space. In parallel, the funding guidelines support the establishment of a research community that utilises the OpenSpace as a central element for new collaborations and research projects.

Funding is available for projects with a total duration of up to 36 months, beginning with a set-up phase of up to 12 months, during which investment is made in equipping the innovation space and community building is prioritised. This aims to establish new research collaborations with non-academic application partners and is coordinated through community management. In a subsequent R&D phase lasting approximately 18 months, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research work is carried out. The R&D project must be designed in such a way that the expected research results can be scaled up in OpenSpace in collaboration with an application partner. The need for research must be demonstrated at the time of application by at least one expression of interest from an application partner. Using the innovation space and the developments from the R&D phase, the 6-month scaling phase will develop approaches for transferring and scaling the solutions and findings into practice. The aim of the funding guideline is to create a sustainable innovation platform at the University of Applied Sciences (HAW) that serves as a point of contact for regional businesses, local authorities and civil society actors, and offers low-threshold access to the HAW’s research expertise.

Projects are selected for funding through a single-stage process (submission of a full application). Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) are eligible to submit applications in accordance with Section 3(1) of the Federal-State Agreement on the ‘Research at UAS’ programme. At least one industry partner must be involved in the project. Funding is awarded exclusively to the applying UAS. The maximum grant amount is 2 million euros per project. Please refer to the link to the current funding guidelines for the detailed funding conditions. There you will also find all the documents you need to submit an application.