With FH-Invest 2020, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is currently continuing research funding in a strategically important area within the framework of the Research at Universities of Applied Sciences programme: the research foundation at universities of applied sciences. The aim is to provide young scientists with a modern and efficient research environment so that application-oriented innovations can be made available even more rapidly to the industrial sector and society.

Due to their practice- and problem-oriented approach, universities of applied sciences are particularly suited to be primary partners of businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to promote the transfer of knowledge and technology in an application-oriented manner. They represent an interface between research and application and can thus ensure the transfer of research results.

With the FH-Invest 2020 call, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) supports structuralizing projects with strategic investments in research equipment, research facilities and demonstration models. The aim is to further enhance the profile of the research and innovation potential already existing at the UAS, and to adapt this potential to technological change. Thus, FH-Invest funding creates the conditions for application-oriented innovations to be more quickly made available to economy and society. The purpose of FH-Invest funding is to enable UAS to contribute to solving social challenges together with their partners.

Moreover, FH-Invest also makes it possible for the first time to obtain funding for project-related personnel expenses if these are necessary for the acquisition, installation and commissioning of the project-specific research equipment, facilities and demonstration models. Thus, the fundamental, structural and strategic research framework conditions of UAS are to be decisively improved and facilitated over the long term.

The first FH-Invest call was first published in 2013, followed by calls in 2014, 2016 and 2019. To date, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research has approved a total of 53 million euros in funding for 64 projects within the framework of FH-Invest (as of 20 November 2017).