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Good practice Imported

KMU.DIGITAL — Austria's Two-Tier SME Digitalisation Grant Programme

Austria · Vienna · See the Austria profile · See the Vienna profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 63% 62/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Austria's KMU.DIGITAL grant, jointly run by WKO and aws since 2017, has funded over 25,000 SME digitalisation initiatives; since its 2024 relaunch it approved ~18,200 of 26,500 applications, disbursing ~EUR 18.1 million, and was independently evaluated in 2023.

~26,500
Applications submitted (since May 2024 relaunch) (by May 2026)
~18,200
Applications approved (by May 2026)
~18.1 EUR million
Total disbursed (current phase) (by May 2026)
10.5 EUR million (~16,400 grants)
Consulting grants disbursed
7.6 EUR million (~1,800 grants)
Implementation grants disbursed
25,000+
Total initiatives supported since 2017
KMU.DIGITAL — Austria's Two-Tier SME Digitalisation Grant Programme

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) & Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO)
Period
2017–2026 (ongoing)
Region (NUTS)
AT130
Keywords
SME support, digital transformation, business consulting

Context

KMU.DIGITAL is Austria's national SME digitalisation grant, jointly delivered since 2017 by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO), which funds an initial digital-strategy consulting module, and Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws), the state promotional bank, which funds the subsequent implementation module for approved projects.

Objectives

The programme aims to move Austrian SMEs from a funded diagnostic/strategy stage into a funded implementation stage, closing the gap between digital advice and actual digital investment.

Activities

The programme has been relaunched several times (versions 2.0 through 4.0) as funding rounds close and reopen with revised conditions; following its most recent relaunch in May 2024, aws reports around 26,500 applications submitted and roughly 18,200 approved by May 2026, disbursing about EUR 18.1 million — EUR 10.5 million across roughly 16,400 approved consulting grants and EUR 7.6 million across roughly 1,800 approved implementation grants.

Results

Since the programme's 2017 launch it has supported over 25,000 consulting and implementation initiatives in total. An independent synthesis evaluation of the programme (fteval, commissioned by the responsible ministry, fieldwork January–July 2023, covering the September 2019–December 2022 relaunch period) assessed its effectiveness and reach and fed recommendations into the current design.

Conclusions

The figures available are participation and disbursement statistics plus the existence of a commissioned effectiveness evaluation, rather than published firm-level outcome data on turnover, employment or digital-maturity change; the full evaluation report was not accessible in machine-readable form for this review, so its detailed findings could not be independently verified here.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Roughly EUR 18.1 million disbursed in the current phase alone (EUR 10.5 million across ~16,400 consulting grants, EUR 7.6 million across ~1,800 implementation grants); over 25,000 initiatives supported cumulatively since 2017.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) — delivers the initial digital-strategy consulting module, Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) — the state promotional bank, delivers the subsequent implementation-module funding

Conditions for success

  • Two-tier design separating consulting (strategy diagnosis) from implementation funding, so SMEs get advice before committing to a larger project
  • Iterative relaunches (versions 2.0 through 4.0) incorporating revised conditions and evaluation input over time
  • A commissioned independent synthesis evaluation (fteval, 2023) feeding recommendations into subsequent programme design

Common failure modes

  • Reporting available covers participation and disbursement statistics rather than published firm-level outcome data (turnover, employment or digital-maturity change), and the full fteval evaluation report was not accessible for independent verification.

Where it fits

Governance type
chamber of commerce + state promotional bank
Scale
national (Austria)
Income level
high-income EU member state

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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