Bavarian Digitalbonus 2026: How to Fund an AI Project With up to €30,000

The Digitalbonus Bayern pays small businesses up to half the cost of a digitalisation project, up to €30,000 in the Plus variant. For AI projects it is the most obvious programme in Bavaria. Many applications still fail, and they fail on formalities, not on the project.

This article reflects the state of 2 October 2026, checked against the pages of digitalbonus.bayern. Whether a project is funded is always decided by the responsible district government (Bezirksregierung).

The essentials at a glance

A business can submit at most two applications between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2027, one per funding area: digitalisation and IT security.

Who is eligible

Small commercial businesses with a site in Bavaria, meaning commercial enterprises within the meaning of § 2 of the German Trade Tax Act. Size is based on the year of the last annual financial statement. Part-time staff are converted into full-time equivalents, apprentices do not count.

Excluded are, among others, liberal professions such as tax advisors, lawyers or architects. The exception: they operate in a commercial legal form, such as a GmbH, and are therefore subject to trade tax. Also excluded are medical practices and clinics, agriculture, businesses exempt from trade tax, businesses with public ownership and businesses in insolvency. On top of that, the de minimis limit of €300,000 in state aid over three years applies.

Standard or Plus?

For Plus, you have to justify the particular innovation content in detail in the application, ideally by setting it apart from existing solutions. Artificial intelligence is named explicitly. Before applying for Plus, you should contact the responsible district government.

What you would receive

The grant is the smaller of two values: half of the eligible costs or the cap of the variant. Try it with your own numbers:

What is funded and what is not

For AI projects this means: the solution has to work inside your processes, not just advise. A knowledge base with an agent that answers enquiries or processes receipts fits the digitalisation area. Running costs, for example for using an AI model, are eligible for 18 months at most. Ask for them to be shown separately in the quote.

The process and trap number one

Before: no order yet, not even verbally

1. 1

   Get a quote

   Allowed. It even belongs in the application.

2. 2

   ELSTER account

   Company account, allow time for it.

3. 3

   Apply

   Yourself, from 10 am on the first working day of the month.

From the confirmation of receipt

4. 4

   Confirmation of receipt

   From now on you may commission, at your own risk.

5. 5

   Implement and pay

   At most 18 months from the decision.

6. 6

   Request payout

   Once, after all invoices are settled.

No order before the application. A project counts as started as soon as an order has been placed, according to the programme page possibly even verbally. A breach can be treated as subsidy fraud. Getting a quote, on the other hand, is allowed and even necessary. After the confirmation of receipt you may start, at your own risk: if the application is rejected, you bear the costs alone.

Your business submits the application itself. Sign-in is only possible with the ELSTER company account of the applying business. Service providers or funding consultants may not apply on your behalf. If you do not have an account yet, request one "for an organisation". Part of the access data arrives by post, so allow time.

The monthly quota goes fast. It opens at 10 am on the first working day of the month, Saturday does not count. Once it is used up, applications reopen the following month.

Implement, pay, settle. The approval period is at most 18 months from the decision. Afterwards you submit a payout request with a project report, and for grants above €10,000 also a proof of use. There is only one payout.

Always report changes

If the scope, the price or the provider changes during the project, report it to the approving authority right away. For approvals from 1 November 2025 onwards: if the report is missing and an audit finds that the funds were not fully used as intended, the grant is revoked in full.

How we help

We provide the project description and cost plan for the application, with licences and consulting shown separately. You submit the application, and the order is only placed after the confirmation of receipt. Our funding page shows how this works step by step. What an AI project costs with us is listed in our packages.

This article does not replace funding or legal advice. The funding guideline and the information from the responsible district government are authoritative.

Sources

• Digitalbonus Bayern: Förderprogramm, retrieved 2 October 2026
• Digitalbonus Bayern: Häufig gestellte Fragen, retrieved 2 October 2026
• Digitalbonus Bayern: Antragstellung, retrieved 2 October 2026