Europe's largest municipal innovation fund for the climate is entering its seventh round - the Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund. Climate projects can apply in four funding lines until the end of April - specifically for grants of between 25,000 and one million euros. We as the Stuttgart Climate Community were also supported by the fund during our start-up phase. We now had the chance to put our questions to the manager of the fund, Hauke Diederich.

When we think of fund managers, many of us think of people in suits who keep an eye on their trading screens. It's probably different for you. How should we imagine your work?

Hauke: I actually prefer to wear hoodies and the last time I wore a suit was probably at my wedding. But seriously, my work is very varied and usually takes place in phases. The hot phase of the application process is currently underway, which means that I have designed and implemented an online tutorial together with my colleagues to answer as many questions as possible that keep coming up for a lot of people in one go. Then our team is currently having lots of personal discussions with applicants who want to present their idea, have tips on how to submit an application or have other questions. Our actual "main business" of supporting and funding projects takes a back seat during these phases. For the funded projects, we must of course first and foremost ensure that the funding can be paid out quickly once the project has achieved its objectives. But then, together with the communications team in the Climate Protection department, we also support the projects in their communication with our social media channels, create videos of the projects and establish important links with the city administration.

In addition to these tasks, which are closely related to the projects, there are of course also classic project management tasks, such as budget planning and control, monitoring the funding projects on our online platform, which we are constantly developing, preparing submissions to the municipal council and exchanging information with Stuttgart's city councillors. I also have to clarify questions relating to subsidy and EU state aid law, for which I also have the support of a law firm. As you can see, you don't get bored that quickly. But there's always time for a coffee and a joke with colleagues :)

Who can apply for funding from you? And what are the four funding lines all about?

Hauke: In principle, we support any type of organization. Funding projects are currently running in start-ups as well as in long-established companies, sports and other associations, universities and research institutes. The four funding lines were originally three: depending on the size of the project, the geographical radius also expands, although the projects are of course always implemented in Stuttgart. Small projects (up to €100,000 in funding) must come from Stuttgart, medium-sized projects (up to €500,000) may come from the state of Baden-Württemberg and for the large line (up to €1,000,000 in funding), applicants from all over Europe are permitted. After a year, a cooperation with one of the largest nature conservation organizations in the world, The Nature Conservancy, added another line that specifically promotes nature-based, green solutions up to €500,000 - also for applicants throughout Europe!

Some interested parties certainly have some respect for complicated applications. Is there an opportunity to discuss this in advance with personal contacts?

Many organizations apply to us for public funding for the first time. We have already taken this into account in the design phase and kept the application process as lean as possible. Nobody is excluded because an attachment has been forgotten or a field has been filled in incorrectly. We then simply ask again. But the best part of my job is the personal exchange with the applicants about their ideas! Our team is always available in the run-up to the application deadline to discuss project ideas or clarify questions. We have already collected the most frequently asked questions online.

Recently, the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper reported criticism of the fund's results-based funding guidelines. What do you say to the critics?

The Climate Innovation Fund provides funding based on results, which means that the funding is only paid out once predetermined results have been achieved. Of course, this means that you have to think about how you can bridge the initial period without funding and make sure that the promised targets are realistic. For us, however, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages: the projects are freer in their use of funds, i.e. how they achieve their goals. Another advantage is the simple reporting and accounting: when a milestone has been reached, this only needs to be verified and the costs checked for plausibility. There is no need to write lengthy reports that nobody reads in the end. We have also heard from projects that the financing mode has led to people sitting down after each milestone and considering whether it is realistic to achieve the next goal before investing money, manpower and often a lot of heart and soul - and if it is not realistic, they can pull the ripcord in good time and talk to us.

Nevertheless, results-based funding is of course a point that we have discussed controversially in the team from the outset and continue to do so now. The Climate Innovation Fund is currently being evaluated by an external consulting team and we have asked them to analyze this point in detail once again.

Is there a project funded by you that is particularly close to your heart?

I don't have a "favorite project". However, I am always very happy when our projects reach a lot of people or when our support leads to projects being scaled up or receiving awards. For example, the Feuerbach Sports Association was awarded the German Sustainability Award at the end of last year for its"Klimafit" project and the start-up variolytics was accepted into the European Innovation Council Accelerator with its"Emission Control" system for wastewater treatment plants.

Thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us!

Picture of the Stuttgart Climate Innovation Fund team - you can see Hauke Diederich on the right (C) Jan Kohlmeyer