The people behind your application
Dr. Hans GeorgBreunig
Senior Consultant
Funding for chemicals and materials
The chemicals and materials industries face investments that are often hard to carry on a conventional calculation: electrifying processes, deploying hydrogen, keeping residual streams in the loop, reducing CO2 and moving new materials from the lab into the plant. These projects are capital-intensive, run over several years and frequently carry technical or commercial risk. This is exactly where public funding comes in. It can support development, demonstration, scale-up and investment where companies advance new processes, materials or production methods. On this page you will learn which projects typically qualify and what matters in the application.
The developments shaping your investments
Four developments determine investment decisions in this sector.
Decarbonising energy-intensive processes. Emissions targets and carbon pricing make converting high-temperature processes, steam generation and reaction control mandatory, with electrification and hydrogen the obvious routes.
Circularity instead of linear value creation. Raw material prices and supply chain risks shift the focus to recovering substances from residual streams and end-of-life products.
New materials with defined properties. Coatings, catalysts and battery materials are increasingly designed rather than discovered, and most projects stall between lab and plant.
Substituting critical substances. Regulatory restrictions force companies to replace established substances without losing product properties.
Decarbonisation and electrification
Converting energy-intensive processes to electricity-based or hydrogen-based methods, including the process development behind them.
Circular processes and raw material recovery
Chemical and mechanical recycling, processing of residual materials and recovery of valuable materials from waste streams.
Development of new materials and catalysts
Materials with defined properties whose manufacturability and scalability first have to be demonstrated.
Demonstration and pilot plants
The step between laboratory scale and industrial production, where technical and commercial risk are highest.
Energy and resource efficiency in production
Waste heat recovery, process optimisation and reducing specific consumption where the effect cannot be derived from known methods.
The programmes behind it
What to watch in this sector
In chemicals and materials, funding risk frequently arises where technical development, plant investment and climate impact interlock. Three points are particularly critical.
01
Process development and plant construction get mixed
A new material or process can contain R&D elements, piloting and investment in plant. These parts follow different funding logics. If the costs attributable to development, demonstration or plant construction are not separated cleanly, reductions or exclusions loom.
02
Emissions reduction not robustly calculated
In climate and decarbonisation programmes, the demonstrable CO2 or greenhouse gas reduction frequently decides the outcome. That requires a clear baseline, robust assumptions, comparison scenarios and a traceable calculation of the expected effect.
03
Scale-up risks underestimated
Many projects work in the laboratory but fail at pilot or demonstration scale on process stability, quality, energy demand, raw material variation or permitting issues. Funding applications therefore have to show which technical risks exist at scale and how the project reduces them.
What this means for your funding
How we work
We do not start with the application but with the question of which parts of your projects qualify and which funding logic they follow. Our specialists know the programmes and the evaluation practice in this sector.
STEP 1
Review the projects.
We go through your roadmap and separate eligible from non-eligible parts.
STEP 2
Match the programmes.
We map the eligible parts to the right instruments at regional, national and European level.
STEP 3
Build the applications.
We write against the actual evaluation criteria, not against the project description.
STEP 4
Protect what is awarded.
We keep the documentation audit-ready throughout the entire funded period.
The people behind your application
Dr. LisaAlbrecht
Consultant
The people behind your application
Dr. MarcelAlbrecht
Consultant
The people behind your application
Dr. MichaelJung
Consultant
The people behind your application
Dr. NavinaDahmke
Senior Consultant
Numbers you can hold us to
Resources & Insights
Wegener Härtetechnik
Wegener Härtetechnik is a specialist heat treatment service provider and is developing an innovative hardening process for applications in the automotive industry.
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Zehn Fördermöglichkeiten, die kleine und mittlere Unternehmen häufig übersehen — von der steuerlichen Forschungszulage über ZIM und IGP bis zum EIC Accelerator.
SaJo Consulting
SaJo Consulting GmbH develops tailor-made software solutions for demanding business requirements. To enable companies to use artificial intelligence securely, the company planned to develop an AI platform of its own.
Working with Ignite Group took a great deal of pressure off us. Thanks to […] their expertise, we always felt confident that our funding application was in the best hands.
If you have big ideas but don’t want to invest blindly: Phase 1 is your reality check – with funding instead of your own risk.
Working with Ignite was structured and reliable throughout. The holistic approach was particularly helpful […]. We are very satisfied with the result and are happy to keep working with Ignite.
By goal rather than by industry
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- Build Strategic Resilience Become less dependent on individual funding sources and absorb volatility with confidence. With non-dilutive capital that strengthens your balance sheet and secures your strategy.
- Accelerate R&D and Innovation Develop faster without carrying the budget alone. We connect innovation funding to your roadmap, so your teams keep building instead of managing applications.
- Optimise Your Funding Mix Build funding into your financing as a plannable component, not an occasional windfall. A funding mix your CFO can count on.
- Stay Audit-Ready and Compliant Keep the capital you have been awarded. Typically, 30–40 percent of funding value is lost after the award. We secure documentation and audit trail from day one.
Ready to secure your funding?
Find out what your business has been entitled to all along.