The best-known programmes are exhausted or paused. At the same time, grants of up to 50 percent remain open until the end of the year. This overview shows the current status and which data and AI projects fit.
All three programmes close for submissions at the end of the year. Any project seeking funding needs its concept, quote and application ready by then.
Wirtschaftsagentur Wien
Data integration, dashboards, AI applications and software from €10,000 project costs, based on a digitalisation plan.
State of Lower Austria & WKNÖ
Projects that connect existing operational data with decisions: integration, analysis, forecasting, AI.
FFG
AI development with a genuine research and development share. Simply introducing existing tools is not eligible.
These programmes are still frequently searched for and recommended, but are not accepting applications at present.
aws
First AI projects (AI Start) and larger AI initiatives (AI Adoption). aws announces new rounds separately.
BMWET, WKO & aws
Status analysis, strategy consulting and implementation. New applications are no longer possible.
Most funding applications fail not because of the project, but because of the order of steps or the documentation. Five steps that stay the same for every programme.
Does the project match the programme, region and company size? This check comes before any quote.
Digitalisation plan, target metric and a quote structured by eligible cost categories.
The company submits the application. Work is commissioned and started only afterwards, otherwise the grant is at risk.
Delivery within the project period, documented so that the final claim needs no rework.
Invoices by cost category, plan versus actual comparison and a final report. Payout usually follows completion.
Digitalisation programmes do not fund tools, they fund change in how a company operates. New software on its own convinces no jury. What convinces is a project that describes which data goes unused today, which decision improves as a result and which metric shows the effect after the project ends.
Data integration between shop, CRM and ERP, a dashboard with forecasts, lead scoring based on a company's own sales data or an AI assistant in customer service: all of these connect existing data with decisions and are therefore close to what digitalisation programmes aim to fund. Pure advertising budgets, ongoing licences without a project scope and conventional website relaunches usually fall outside.
The specific solutions are described in the overview Solutions built on data and AI. For Viennese companies, the Wirtschaftsagentur digitalisation grant is currently the strongest programme; for Lower Austria, see the digi4Wirtschaft guide.
As of 10 Oct 2026, the following are open: the Förderung Digitalisierung of the Wirtschaftsagentur Wien (50 percent, up to €50,000, submission until 31 Dec 2026), digi4Wirtschaft in Lower Austria (20 percent, up to €25,000) and the FFG Basisprogramm Kleinprojekt for development projects. KMU.DIGITAL is exhausted, and the aws AI programmes have no open call at present.
No. The budget is exhausted and new applications are no longer possible. According to the official programme page, KMU.DIGITAL will not be continued from 2027 due to consolidation measures in the federal budget. No direct successor programme has been announced.
As a rule, no. For most programmes, commissioning or starting a project before submission is grounds for exclusion. The relevant guideline is binding, which is why Dometrics clarifies the order of steps before every quote.
The company submits the application itself. Dometrics provides the technical content: project description, data concept, target metrics and a quote by cost category. The funding body makes the decision, and nobody can guarantee approval.
Partly. The same costs generally cannot be funded twice, and many programmes are de minimis aid with a ceiling over three years. Whether a combination is permitted is set out in the relevant guideline.
All information without guarantee, as of 10 Oct 2026. Conditions and budgets change continuously; only the guideline of the respective funding body is binding.
No sales pitch, no commitment. Dometrics responds with an honest assessment and says so when there is no leverage to be found.
