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How to apply for the Digitalbonus Bayern for an AI project

Who gets the Digitalbonus Bayern, how the application works step by step and what is likely to count for AI projects. As of October 2026.

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Take a made-up electrical contractor in Bamberg with 24 employees, three of them apprentices. The owner writes quotes in the evening from emails and phone notes. In future, an AI will draft them from the enquiry and the price list. To pay for it, she wants to apply for the Digitalbonus Bayern, a Bavarian grant for small businesses. An acquaintance says the provider handles that and the state pays half, but neither is quite right.

The AI suggests items, quantities and prices. The owner checks every quote and approves it before it goes to the customer. The AI does not decide on prices or discounts.

As of 21 October 2026. Only the funding guidelines and your district government’s information are binding. This is not legal, tax or funding advice.

Who gets the Digitalbonus

Small businesses can apply if they pay trade tax and have premises in Bavaria where the project will be used. Under No. 3.1 of the funding guidelines, small means fewer than 50 employees, counted as full-time equivalents. Annual turnover or balance sheet total may be at most 10 million euros. Part-time staff count pro rata, apprentices need not count (Vollzugshinweise No. 4, the implementation notes to the guidelines).

Liberal professions qualify only if run as a trade business. Medical practices, clinics, care homes and similar institutions do not qualify at all (No. 3.2, Vollzugshinweise No. 6). Medium-sized and larger companies cannot get the Digitalbonus.

AI belongs to the digitalisation funding area (No. 2.1), alongside IT security (No. 2.2). Until the programme ends on 31 December 2027, each business receives only one grant per funding area (No. 6.1, No. 10).

The grant covers up to 50 percent of eligible costs of 4,000 euros or more (No. 5.4). The Digitalbonus Standard pays at most 7,500 euros (No. 5.4.1). The Digitalbonus Plus, for projects with a particular degree of innovation, pays at most 30,000 euros and is granted only once (No. 5.4.2). There is no legal entitlement, and if the programme is oversubscribed, an application can fail (preamble, No. 7.2).

The application step by step

  1. Check the requirements. Size, sector, earlier applications since July 2024 and de minimis aid in the last three years (No. 8, FAQ).
  2. Set up an ELSTER business account. ELSTER is Germany’s online tax portal. Your business submits the application itself, through its own ELSTER business account “for an organisation”, even as a sole trader. Providers and funding consultants may neither submit the application nor use your certificate (No. 7.3, home page).
  3. Get a quote, order nothing. Apply first, order second. A binding order or an awarded contract already counts as the start (No. 4.1); the programme page says a verbal one does too. Applying after the start risks an accusation of subsidy fraud (FAQ). The only exception is advice on planning or structuring the project that must necessarily take place before the application (Vollzugshinweise No. 21).
  4. Find your district government. It is the one where the project is carried out, not where the provider is based (No. 7.1, how-to-apply page). In Franconia these are the Regierung von Mittelfranken, Oberfranken or Unterfranken, the district governments of Middle, Upper and Lower Franconia. For our Bamberg business, that is Upper Franconia. Before a Plus application, contact them with a precise description of the innovation (programme page).
  5. Submit at the start of the month. A fixed quota is released every month. It opens at 10 am on the first working day of the month. A Saturday does not count as a working day (FAQ, archived September 2025). Once it is used up, the next quota opens the following month.
  6. Wait for the confirmation of receipt. Only after the email confirmation may you place the order, at your own risk (No. 4.1, how-to-apply page). You need not wait for the grant decision.
  7. Implement and pay up front. After the decision you have 18 months (No. 7.6). During this period your business pays all invoices itself first.
  8. Payment after completion. With the project completion notice (Projektmitteilung) you submit the payment request. It is paid once at the end, with no interim payment (No. 7.7, FAQ).
  9. Use it for three years. For that long after going live, the system must serve the funded purpose; otherwise the grant may be reclaimed (No. 7.8).

What is likely to count for AI projects

Eligible costs are external providers’ services for introducing an application, with related advice and training up to half of the costs (No. 5.2.1). Standard hardware, travel costs and measures required by law do not count (No. 5.3, Vollzugshinweise No. 1). All prices are net. The district government decides what counts. Our assessment, with no commitment:

  • AI workshop (€1,490) and AI sprint (€4,900) on their own. Certainly not: advice and training without an introduced application are not funded (No. 5.3.7).
  • Workshop as training within the build. Open: it only counts if it relates to the application introduced (programme page).
  • Sprint before the application. Probably allowed, as long as it only plans; order nothing beyond that. Whether tests with real data still count as planning, and whether the costs count later, is open.
  • Prototype (from €14,900). Probably eligible, under Standard. It uses up the one application in the digitalisation funding area. Whether a test prototype meets this three-year requirement is open.
  • Production build (from €29,000). Probably eligible. Plus only if AI is at the centre in content and costs, and the innovation is recognised (Vollzugshinweise No. 17). According to the programme page, comparable custom programming counts as Standard.
  • Operations (from €490 a month). Open. Ongoing fees count for at most 18 months (Vollzugshinweise No. 11). Whether hosting, monitoring and updates are included is unclear.
  • Local AI in-house (from €4,900 setup). Your business buys the hardware itself; as standard hardware it is not eligible (No. 5.3.1). Whether the setup counts is open.

Worked example for the production build

Worked example, not a commitment. We assume a build at the entry price of €29,000 and calculate net. Further assumptions: all items are recognised, advice and training stay below half, and the sprint is left out.

If the innovation is recognised, the Plus grant is €14,500 and your share is also €14,500. Without that recognition it stays at Standard: a grant of at most €7,500, your share €21,500. In both cases your business first pays the full €29,000 up front.

Work out your own figures on our Digitalbonus Bayern page.

What Intragentic provides and what it does not

From us you get a quote and a description of services, broken down into development, advice and training, months of operation and travel costs. We do not submit the application, we do not promise funding, and we do not advise on funding. Our prices follow the work, not funding thresholds. For the tax treatment of the grant, ask your tax adviser.

The AI check shows whether your business may qualify for the Digitalbonus and which task suits a first project.

Sources

All links accessed on 21 October 2026. The digitalbonus.bayern pages were blocked that day; we checked saved versions with the archive date given.

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