DIVERSITEC 2025

Diversity in a company means employing people of different genders, origins, sexual orientations, religions, disabilities or socio-economic backgrounds. More diverse companies can be more innovative thanks to the diversity and different perspectives that this brings.

That is why DIVERSITEC promotes organisational development measures for diversity, equality and inclusion.

Here you will find umbrella terms for eligible measures:

• Diversity management
• HR development, onboarding & mentoring
• New work & leadership
• Employer branding & public relations
• Diversity training & inclusion training
• Gender equality plan

Further tailor-made measures are also possible.

The projects must have a lasting impact on your own company. Experience shows that the sustainable integration of the project into existing company structures can only be achieved by combining several measures. A diverse portfolio of measures from different areas is therefore recommended.

Examples of individual measures that could be part of a portfolio of measures:

• You anchor diversity in your corporate goals. In doing so, you set quantitative targets, e.g. by 2030, a minimum of 30% of all positions in which women are currently underrepresented will be held by women. Include information on the current figures in your annual reports.
• You collect data that helps you to objectively assess the impact of your measures. For example, conduct a job satisfaction survey and include questions relating to equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion.
• You design a career development programme that is open to employees of all ages.
• You establish network groups for different employees, e.g. a women's network or a regular get-together for LGBTIQ+ people.
• You train your managers in New Leadership so that they can implement modern leadership styles. You rethink leadership, e.g. by enabling part-time leadership and job sharing models.
• You highlight your company's commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion: For example, by setting up a section on your website that deals with the topic of equal opportunities. Or by revising your career page and focusing on diversity and accessibility in terms of language and images.
• You organise company-wide ‘unconscious bias’ training. The content should not only provide examples of bias, but also be based on workplace scenarios, especially everyday team dynamics, career development and lived values.

The call for proposals guide contains many more examples of possible DIVERSITEC activities. The examples are intended to serve as inspiration – feel free to come up with other ideas that are suitable for your company.

• Companies of any legal form (e.g. AG, GmbH, KG, OG, etc.), but not civil law partnerships (GesbR)
  • with their own research and development department or with projects in research, technology and innovation
  • with a need for highly qualified people in research and technology
• Non-university research institutions (within the scope of their economic activities) with a focus on science and technology and with operations or a branch in Austria

The maximum funding amount is EUR 50,000. Depending on the size of the company, 50-70% of the costs are subsidised. This is a de minimis grant. 

Each application for funding is assessed on the basis of the following three evaluation criteria:

1. Quality of the project
2. Suitability of the applicant
3. Relevance of the project

Submissions must be made via the FFG's eCall system, which requires details of the project content and costs. Additional attachments are also required, which can be found in the call for proposals guidelines. You can submit an application until the funding has been exhausted.

Tip: For small and medium-sized enterprises, the Diversity Cheque is an ideal entry point into the topic of diversity. Prior to your DIVERSITEC project, you have the opportunity to conduct a diversity-related analysis of your company.

Please contact us if you have any questions or would like a consultation!

We will review your funding application (on an ongoing basis after submission) and notify you as soon as a decision has been made.