The German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) funds social innovations for safe and human-centered AI in the service of the common good through its “Wirkungsstark!” directive. It supports collaborative projects (Verbundprojekte) with already-proven social innovations, helping them develop further in the context of safe, human-centered AI, apply them under real-world conditions, and prepare them to scale. Funding is organized in three thematic lines: health and care; climate-neutral and socially just mobility; and cleantech for the circular economy and sustainable value creation. Applications are submitted exclusively as collaborative projects and must be filed via the easy-Online portal by 29 January 2027, 12:00.
“Wirkungsstark!” is a pilot for a different way of funding. Success is not measured by what a project delivers, but by what changes for the people it serves: impact targets are agreed at the start, and reaching them is the deciding factor. Funded projects are therefore set up from day one to create real, verifiable change rather than to complete activities. The ministry is explicitly testing impact-oriented steering as a funding method. If the pilot holds up, it offers a working model for how public money can be allocated on outcomes – in Germany and beyond this directive.
The cross-cutting project “Daten Stärken Wirkung (DSW)” exists to make that pilot work in practice. It is carried out by a consortium of UnternehmerTUM GmbH (consortium coordination) and Public Value Hub gGmbH. During the application phase it informs applicants about impact models and impact indicators; once projects are funded, it accompanies them in planning, measuring and interpreting their impact. The project makes no selection, funding or release decisions; those rest with the BMFTR and the Projektträger, and the wording of the funding directive is decisive.
Public Value Hub contributes three things. First, capacity building: workshops, office hours and masterclasses that strengthen funded projects’ own ability to plan for outcomes and measure them. Second, the measurement infrastructure: with Inluma, Public Value Hub provides the platform on which funded projects structure, capture and track their impact indicators – configured per project after the funding decision, comparable across all projects, and usable beyond the funding period. Third, the evidence: Public Value Hub analyzes the impact data across all funded projects and the funding measure as a whole, and delivers the findings to the BMFTR, including a policy brief on impact-oriented funding. Standardized, comparable impact data from every funded project is what turns a single funding round into a proof of concept.
The project offers three digital information sessions: one per thematic line. Full details and registration are available on the DSW page at UnternehmerTUM under “Zu den Terminen und zur Anmeldung.” Questions on the funding itself are answered by the Projektträger.
Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). Förderkennzeichen 16DSW01B
Projektträger VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH - wirkungsstark@vdivde-it.de
