Energy Research 2025: Innovations for a Green Future

New call for tender in energy research

The Austrian Federal Ministry of Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI) and the Climate and Energy Fund have launched an extensive funding programme to support groundbreaking innovations in the energy sector.

There are many ways in which companies or organisations specialising in R&D can contribute to the green transformation. Whether it’s energy generation, hydrogen technologies or the digital transformation of the energy transition – projects should make a measurable contribution to climate protection.

Within this tender, energy innovations that serve both the Austrian and export markets and actively contribute to climate protection are funded. The total funding budget is EUR 16.9 million, which is to be increased through additional funds from the 2025 annual programme of the Climate and Energy Fund.

Objectives of the call for tender for Energy Research 2025

The call for tender addresses researchers and developers who are striving for significant innovations and solutions in the energy sector, going beyond the current state of the art and making a measurable contribution to climate protection.

The Energy Research 2025 call for tender contributes to further developing the five key topics defined in the implementation plan for the RTI focus on energy transition, with a total of 16 innovation topics. The following cross-sectional requirements are integral components:

• • Sustainable value chains and strengthening of the production location: Strengthening regional supply chains and production locations improves economic performance and reduces environmental pollution at the same time.
  • Circular economy and security of supply: The efficient use of resources minimises environmental impacts while ensuring security of supply, in particular by promoting recycling and reuse.
  • Societal transformation: Innovations and technologies that align with the needs and values of society achieve broad acceptance and participation in the energy transition.

Projects of applied research with technology readiness levels (TRL) 3-7 are funded. In justified exceptional cases, funding up to technology readiness level 8 – commercially viable prototypes and pilot projects – is possible, if it necessarily involves the commercial end product and its production would be too expensive solely for demonstration and validation purposes.

Funded projects

The submitted project must primarily relate to one of the following focus areas or underlying research topics. Projects are supported by various funding or financing instruments, such as:

• • Feasibility studies (pre-study for R&D project) up to max. EUR 250,000, with a maximum funding quota of 80%
  • Cooperative R&D projects (industrial research and experimental development) min. EUR 100,000 to max. EUR 2 million, with a max. funding quota of 85%
  • Cooperative lead projects (industrial research and/or experimental development) min. EUR 2 million, with a max. funding quota of 85%.

The following focus areas are funded:

1. Energy generation and storage technologies: The aim is to increase the efficiency of energy generation and storage technologies, scalability, reduction of manufacturing costs, optimisation over the entire lifecycle and effective system integration.

2. Hydrogen, renewable gases and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS): The aim is to develop and scale energy-efficient processes, technologies and components that contribute to cost-effective production, transport, (seasonal) storage and utilisation of hydrogen and renewable gases from bio-waste and renewable raw materials, as well as their integration into infrastructures. In addition, the development of cost-effective approaches for carbon capture and purification, transport, utilisation and interim or long-term storage (at least 35 years) is supported.

3. System design and operation of flexible, integrated and climate-resilient energy systems: The aim is to newly and further develop technologies for safe and flexible operation of energy grids and systems (including sector coupling) with rapidly increasing quantities of weather-dependent renewable energies that can only be controlled to a limited extent.

4. Digital transformation of the energy transition: The aim is to (further) develop hardware, methods, processes and algorithms to enable efficient data generation, provision and analysis for the digitalisation of the energy system and to strengthen the cyber resilience of energy technologies.

5. Efficient energy conversion: The aim is to increase the energy efficiency and functionality of end-use technologies (household appliances, heating and air conditioning systems, lighting, office equipment, etc.) and (industrial) production technologies.

6. Social transformation (acceptance and participation): The aim is to use all social potentials for the energy transition, in the sense of an increased socio-technical transformation. By focusing on the benefits for all people, regardless of gender, age or other diversity aspects, demands-driven and personalised technologies, products and services are developed.

7. Systems analysis – R&D services

7.1. R&D service 1: by research infrastructures in the field of hydrogen, the potential and the cost/benefit of an expanding research infrastructure in the field of hydrogen are to be analysed and a sound basis for decision-making is to be developed.

7.2. R&D service 2: RTI roadmap for technologies for carbon capture, transport, utilisation and storage and negative emission technologies from Austria. The aim is to systematically identify, evaluate and prioritise promising technology pathways for carbon capture, transport, utilisation and storage as well as carbon removal from the atmosphere based on technical sinks (NET – negative emission technologies) for Austria with high export potential.

R&D projects that are already covered by other ongoing funding, such as circular economy and production technologies, information and communication technologies, mobility and transport, technologies and innovations for the climate-neutral city, transformation of industry, lighthouses of the heat transition, are not funded.

Two submission deadlines:

First submission deadline: Wednesday, 25 June 2025, 12:00 noon (for focus areas 1 to 5 and 7)

Second submission deadline: Wednesday, 12 November 2025, 12:00 noon (for focus areas 1 to 6 and lead projects).

If an application was planned to be submitted by the first deadline, but the application was not completed and submitted on time, a new submission can be made by the second deadline (12/11/2025).

Submission: exclusively electronically via the FFG eCall system.

We will be happy to provide you with further comprehensive information and advice on your submission. Do not hesitate to contact us for specific questions. We look forward to driving the future of energy design together with you!

Authors: Daniela Stastny, Viktoria Molnar