Germans Speed Grants For Small Companies

 

Only three weeks for the government to decide on a small business grant for research and development? Impossible? Not if you live in West Germany.

Bonn's Ministry for Research and Technology, which recently funded its 1,000th project since it was founded in 1978, boasts that most companies get word on their applications in three weeks or less, according to the British magazine New Scientist. Most of the companies got grants for about $20,000 or more, and a quarter got more than $45,000.

The ministry was established to eliminate red tape and to aid companies with sales of under about $90 million. To assure that grant applicants take their projects seriously, the ministry's grants cover only up to 30% of the research cost. In its first year the ministry placed 104 grants; this year it expects to award over 600.