Austrian Life Sciences 2024 - 2026

The prerequisites for funding are: Fulfillment of the addressed topic areas of the initiative.

Life sciences projects usually bring exploitable products, processes or services - including digital products, processes or services - out. 

Funding is available for corporate R&D projects in the research categories experimental development, industrial research (technology readiness level 5 to 8) as well as clinical studies (technology readiness level 2 to 4) from Austrian companies that deal with the following areas:

• Digitalization with health aspects (Diagnostics, telemedicine, medical devices, etc.)
• new, effective, high quality and safe, as well as available and affordable ones Drug as well as Medical devices
• Planning and implementation of interventional phase I and II clinical studies

A detailed description of the call tools and research categories offered can be found in the FAQs (German only).

The “Austrian Life Sciences 2024 - 2026” funding programme is open to all Austrian companies and, in the case of the flagship project (not offered in 2026), also to stakeholders from university and non-university research institutions, universities of applied sciences, and higher technical colleges based in Austria

The participation of actors along the entire value chain is required. 

The participation of foreign partners is possible (depending on the funding instrument). 

Companies in difficulty as defined are excluded from funding. Information on classification can be found here.

The maximum funding amount (non-repayable grant) per project or study

• R&D company projects (experimental development): max. 3 mil. EUR
• Clinical studies: max. 3 mil. EUR
• R&D company projects (industrial research): max. 1 mil. EUR

The amount of the grant depends on the type of organization and the research category.

The Life Sciences funding offer is limited to one project per research category per company.

Projects must align with the focus topics of the call for proposals and meet the criteria for the specified project types (industrial research, experimental development, clinical studies). Please use the TRL scheme (Technology Readiness Levels) as a guide during the application phase.

Funding is awarded solely on an evaluation of the project‘s quality and call documents.

Call documents are available exclusively in German.

Funding depends on whether the project meets the technical and economic evaluation criteria of the programme.

Project Scoring System

• All projects are analyzed and assessed in terms of the technical and economic aspects for funding
• Technical funding criteria include in particular the degree of innovation and the technical challenge of the planned project
• Economic assessment focuses on the commercialization potential and the applicant’s economic performance

Submissions are possible anytime until December 18, 2026, 12:00 p.m. via the FFG’s eCall system, where the project details and costs are outlined. Additionally, depending on the project type or company status, attachments must be uploaded (e.g., business plan, résumés, etc.).

• Evaluations are conducted by experts of the FFG.
• 7 decision board meetings are held per year.