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Team Trade Fairs and Events
Mainzerhofstraße 12 | 99084 Erfurt Germany

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:

Website Thuringian Development Bank Foreign Trade Promotion

What is being funded?

Exhibition stand: Single stand

Funding object:
Participations in:

  • Trade Fairs abroad and
  • Trade Fairs in Germany from the "AUMA Trade Fair Database Germany" (www.auma.de) with the designation as Trade Fairs with the AUMA category1 "international" or "internationally traveling"

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

Project start:
Registration for the exhibition

Project end:
Last day of exhibition

Exhibition stand: Shared stand

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

Grant recipients:

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

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 Contact initiation and mediation of contacts with foreign business partners, organized by consultants or Consulting companies

Grant recipients:
SMEs of the aforementioned sectors with registered office or branch in Thuringia

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 industry2 (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 difficulty3 and of companies for which insolvency proceedings have been filed.
  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 must not exceed a total amount of EUR 300,000 over a period of 3 tax years.

Steps for Promotion

  1. Applications to the TAB are submitted either electronically via the EFRE-Portal or in writing (printed and legally signed) by post within 10 calendar days. The guide "Notes on submitting an application" must be observed.
  2. The application date corresponds to the date the application is received in the EFRE-Portal
  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 TAB at the latest eight weeks before the start of the trade fair. Incomplete funding applications must be completed within the deadline set by TAB. Exceeding deadlines may lead to rejection.
  5. The grant is paid out after review of the simple proof of use. An electronic proof is possible via the EFRE-Portal 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.
 

Here you will find further notes on application submission from Thüringen Aufbaubank.

Contact person

Thüringer Aufbaubank

Customer service

Tel. 0800 5565156
kundenservice(at)aufbaubank.de
Monday - Thursday | 9 a.m. - 5 p.m
Friday | 9 a.m. - 3 p.m

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 This AUMA restriction does not apply to craft enterprises and craft organizations. Funding can also be provided for trade fairs trade fairs at home and abroad as well as consumer fairs trade fairs with international participation. The restriction "with international participation“ does not apply to arts and crafts. This means that consumer fairs trade fairs without international participation can also be eligible for funding.
2 according to the WZ 2008 classification
3 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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