The following participation criteria apply:

• The start-up project is technology-oriented, innovative and knowledge-based. At least one initially developed prototype or a prototype-like procedure and a business plan draft are available.
• The participants have their main residence in Berlin. The nationality or age of the participants is not relevant.
• The founders work full-time (at least 40 hours per week) on their start-up project.
• Income and activities in terms of start-up development are permitted. The scholarship is to be considered as a full-time employment, it serves to cover the monthly living costs, paid secondary activities are permitted (to a limited extent as long as the full-time project work is not impaired).
• During the scholarship the participants are allowed to generate sales / profits, which they generate through pilot customers.
• The teams participating in the start-up scholarship may receive prize money from private and public competitions, regardless of the amount. The acceptance of investments is permitted, these serve only to cover the personnel and material costs, the founders are not allowed to pay a salary (income-expenditure overview).
• Contracts concluded with investors during the scholarship are harmless as long as the investor does not gain a controlling influence on the company before the end of the scholarship, i.e. significant control and voting rights remain with the scholarship holders.
• The scholarship holders are permitted to work with external cooperation partners. However, the cooperation partner must not gain a controlling influence on the company so that the scholarship holders are free and independent in their business dealings during the sponsorship.
• The intellectual property acquired during the scholarship period remains with the scholarship holder, unless applicable legal regulations state otherwise.
• The employment of personnel for the purpose of building up the company is permitted. Compliance with the minimum wage law (MiLoG) is mandatory.
• The replacement of team members in case of their resignation is possible.
• The founders are not allowed to have already been supported with a start-up grant, e.g. the EXIST-Gründerstipendium, Gründungsbonus or Berliner Startup Stipendium or to be currently supported. The Berlin Startup Scholarship can therefore only be awarded once to each participant. The startup grant can only be obtained as a sole funding benefit, purchases from other public subsidies are not permitted.
• A start-up project is usually not yet founded as a company or economically active on the market. In individual cases the fact that the company has already been founded does not prevent it from receiving funding. However, the date of the business registration may not be more than 3 months in the past at the time of application. If a company has already been founded, it must have its headquarters in Berlin. Exceptions are possible if companies are not yet fully and sustainably active, but must be approved separately. All scholarship holders who have already registered a business prior to entering the project must submit a de minimis declaration upon entering the project.
• The start-up projects are usually not yet funded. However, support despite existing funding is conceivable in cases where the financial resources are used exclusively for the development of the company but are not used to support the livelihood of the founders (max. 200,000 € in the two previous calendar years).
• During the project period and beyond, all scholarship holders have information duties regarding their whereabouts and, if applicable, the development of a founded company.

Is our project technologically "deep" enough?

The most important characteristic of your projects is that they contribute to achieving the goal of making Berlin a more sustainable and smarter city where all Berliners* have a future worth living in. Do you have an innovative idea and use technology to realize it? Then you can be part of it. The bigger your technological innovation, the "deeper" your technological approach, the better your chances - but sometimes even the simplest ideas are the best and have the greatest impact.

The following technologies can serve as a guide and rough orientation. This list is only an example and does not exclude other ideas and approaches!

• Devices, Device Management, Embedded Systems
• Sensors and actuators
• Networks (Low-Power/Short-Range, Low-Power/Wide-Area)
• Processors and architectures
• Operating Systems
• Platforms
• Analytical tools, algorithms, event stream processing and analysis models
• Standards und APIs
• Security technologies for devices, operating systems, platforms and communication channels
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions and technologies
• Industry 4.0 solutions and technology