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State Development Corporation of Thuringia mbH (LEG Thüringen)

Mainzerhofstraße 12 | 99084 Erfurt Germany
Phone: +49 361 5603-0
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Foreign trade promotion The most important points in brief

You can find the Thuringian Free State's foreign trade promotion guidelines at the following link:

Guideline for Foreign Trade Promotion

Source: Thuringian Development Bank | Validity from 30.06.2024 to 31.12.2029

What is being funded?

Exhibition stand: Single stand

Funding object:
Participations in:

  • Trade Fairs abroad and
  • Trade Fairs in Germany from the “AUMA exhibition database Germany" (www.auma.de) marked as Trade Fairs with the AUMA category “international“ or “international traveling“2

Grant recipients:
SMEs of the u.s. economic sectors with headquarters or establishment in Thuringia3

Project start:
Registration for the exhibition

Project end:
Last day of exhibition

Exhibition stand: Shared stand

Funding object:
Participations in trade fair joint stands at selected Trade Fairs according to the trade fair program of TMWWDG

Grant recipients:

  • SMEs with headquarters or operating site in Thuringia³
  • Large companies, industry-related research institutions, business associations and networks of the aforementioned economic sectors with headquarters and operating site in Thuringia3

Project start:
Registration to participate in the joint stand

Project end:
Last day of exhibition

Type of funding:
project-related, non-repayable de minimis aid in the form of equity financing on an expense basis

Funding amount:
Expenses up to €10,000, of which up to 50% of eligible expenses, amounting to at least €1,000; additional flat rate of 10% of eligible expenses

Eligible expenses:
Rent for a booth or exhibition space (booth rent), including ancillary costs (electricity, water, internet), expenses for trade fair/booth construction, design and equipment, and rent for exhibition furniture, including planning fees; 

Not eligible:
Acquisition of trade fair stands, components and in-house services
 

Contactanbahnung

Funding object:
Measures for Contactanbahnung and mediation to potential customers, respectively.
business partners abroad

Grant recipients:
SMEs of the aforementioned economic sectors with registered office or establishment in Thuringia3

Project start: 
Conclusion of the consulting contract, registration for the measure for Contactanbahnung

Project end:
Consultant invoice (as a rule 2 months after successful Contactanbahnung)

Type of funding: 
project-related, non-repayable de minimis aid in the form of a fixed‑amount lump sum

Funding amount: 
1,600 EUR per measure

eligible expenses:
Expenses in the amount of at least 1,600 EUR for the commissioned, recognized consulting company;

not eligible: 
Travel costs

How the funding works

Fundable economic sectors

  • Manufacturing industry4 (C10 - C33),
  • economy-related services (J58-63; M71; M72, M74.1)
  • Craftsmanship, if the company is listed in the crafts register or in the directory of craft‑like businesses according to Annex A as well as B1 and B2 of the Crafts Regulation with the craft chambers
  • Wholesale trade (excluding trade in motor vehicles) (G46)

What to consider?

  1. The project to be funded may not be started earlier than the day after the application is submitted, at the applicant's own risk.
  2. For the funding of individual stalls and Contact contacts, the applying company must meet the definition criteria for SMEs according to the KOM recommendation at the time of grant (approval).
  3. No funding for companies in difficulty5 and for companies whose assets have had a bankruptcy filing submitted.
  4. At the time of granting funding, the project must not yet be completed.
  5. Within the framework of the guideline, from 30.06.24 to 31.12.29, up to 4 participations may be approved per company at regularly occurring Trade Fairs.
  6. All de minimis aid granted to a company may not exceed a total amount of 200 TEUR within a period of 3 fiscal years.

Steps for Promotion

  1. The application to TAB is submitted either electronically via the EFRE portal 2021 – 2027 or in writing (printed and legally signed) by post within 10 calendar days. The guide "Guidelines for Application Submission" must be observed.
  2. The application date corresponds to the receipt date of the application in the EFRE portal 2021 – 2027
  3. Documents to be submitted:
    • Application including financing plan (exempted in case of an Contactcontact initiation)
    • De‑minimis declaration
    • SME assessment, possibly SME assessment form (exempted for a joint stand)
    • Business registration/proof of craft roll / directory of craft‑like enterprises
    • Declaration of companies in difficulty
  4. For trade fair participation, the application with all required attachments must be submitted to the TAB no later than eight weeks before the start of the fair. Incomplete grant applications must be completed within the deadline set by the TAB. Missed deadlines result in rejection.
  5. The disbursement of the grant takes place after the simple proof of use has been reviewed. An electronic proof is possible via the EFRE portal 2021 – 2027. Components of a simple proof of use:
  Trade fair funding Contactanbahnung
Implementation of the project 1. Invoice copies for booth rental and booth construction
2. Entry in the trade fair/exhibitor directory 		Invoice of the contracted service provider
Fulfilment of the publicity obligation Photo of the exhibition stand showing the reference to the support from the EFRE Photo evidence, screenshot during digital Contact initiation

Important notes for completing the funding application

Create a new project. Select the funding measure “Foreign trade promotion“ and the funding object, e.g., “Exhibition participation shared stand (AWG)“ out.

Terminology in the funding application

  • Project start: date at least one day after the application submission
  • Project end: date of the last exhibition day
  • Industry of the project: industry of your company (Note: not the industry of the exhibition .)
  • Brief description of the fair: Information from the LEG fair website
  • Project description: z. B. “Aussteller auf dem Thüringer Gemeinschaftsstand”
  • Target group: Target group of your company
  • Scope of services: e.g., 6 m2 Stand package Thuringian community stand”

Expenses

Please take the following cost items from your letter of intent (see confirmation email):

  1. Stand rent (= Stand rent)
  2. Exhibition construction (= exhibition construction rent)

Add another exhibition construction (= exhibition construction rent) item for your additional furniture. This is not included in the LEG calculation. Choose the amount according to your needs.

You can get more tips at Thuringian funding portal or with the contacts.
 

Contact person

Thüringer Aufbaubank

Customer Service Central Thuringia
Steffen Peschke | Phone +49 361 7447 515
Michael Klughardt | Phone +49 361 7447 680 mittelthueringen(at)aufbaubank.de

Customer Service East Thuringia
Monika Fulle | Phone 0365 833 67 338 ostthueringen(at)aufbaubank.de

Customer Service North Thuringia
Kathrin Stracke-Wagner | Phone 0173 39 24 211 nordthueringen(at)aufbaubank.de

Customer Service South Thuringia 
Jan Güssow | Phone +49 361 7447 154 suedthueringen(at)aufbaubank.de

Customer Service West Thuringia 
Marco Jahns | Phone 03691 8804 511 westthueringen(at)aufbaubank.de

LEG Thüringen

Team “Thuringia International“
Phone +49 361 5603 480
international(at)leg-thueringen.de

Team Trade Fairs and Events
Tel. +49 361 503-464
trade fairs(at)leg-thueringen.de

This is a general summary that is neither complete nor creates any legal entitlement. For questions regarding eligibility for funding, please contact the named contacts.

1 The handicrafts are exempt from this regulation.
2 The restriction does not apply to craft businesses or craft organizations when it concerns specialist trade fairs domestically and abroad or end‑consumer trade fairs with international participation. The restriction "with international participation" does not apply to handicrafts.
3 At least 50 % of the products or services must be provided in Thuringia.
4 according to the WZ 2008 classification
5 in the sense of the “Guidelines for state aid for the rescue and restructuring of non‑financial companies in difficulty” (Communication of the EU Commission 2014/C 249/01)

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