The Bavarian Congress Initiative offers event organizers comprehensive financial support in the form of subsidies to facilitate the staging of congresses and conferences in Bavaria. The aim is to reduce the financial burden on national and international event planners while promoting Bavaria's appeal as a first-class venue. The initiative supports a wide range of events and contributes to further expanding Bavaria's position as a leading region for high-quality and innovative congresses and conferences.
Stay tuned: We will keep you informed about all the latest news on the Bavarian Congress Initiative, including funding criteria, award conditions, and contact persons.
Information on applying for the Bavarian Congress Initiative
The Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism provides funding to strengthen the Bavarian tourism industry through meetings and congresses which will take place until the end of 2029.
The aim of the congress initiative for the Bavarian tourism industry is to activate the added value associated with business tourism in the destinations, to intensify tourism demand, to support the Free State of Bavaria as a business and innovation location and to enhance Bavaria's reputation as a nationally and internationally renowned event location.
Below you will find the background, conditions for application, and the procedures for the application for events in Munich.
Recipients of funding are event organizers or those who are verifiably commissioned by them to plan and carry out events in Bavaria.
In particular, the federal government, federal states and municipalities as well as public regional authorities, political parties or comparable foreign organizations are not eligible to apply.
Eligible applicants are:
- legal entities under private and public law,
- partnerships with legal capacity,
- self-employed and freelance individuals.
Funding is provided for conferences and congresses that are aimed at a specialized audience as closed events. This includes conferences and congresses that are held in conjunction with trade fairs and those held in connection with (legally mandatory) member meetings.
Events that meet the following criteria are eligible for funding:
- The event takes place in Bavaria. The location of the organizer is irrelevant for the funding.
- The event has at least 300 participants on site on each day of the event. Hybrid events are eligible for funding, but online participants are not counted when determining the number of participants.
- The event lasts at least two days with a minimum of four hours of content per day. Breaks and program parts that are primarily for entertainment purposes are not considered as part of the content program.
- The event is being held for the first time or at least one of the three previous events has not taken place in Bavaria or, in the case of events that have only been held once or twice before, at least one event has not taken place in Bavaria.
- The venue for the event cannot be provided or rented by the applicant or a legally affiliated organizational unit (e.g. subsidiary).
Only expenses incurred directly in connection with the organization of the event are eligible for funding. Expenses for a supporting program are not eligible for funding. The supporting program is defined as parts of the event that take place alongside the main technical program and do not serve the purpose of professional exchange.
Eligible expenses (by category) are:
- Rent for event spaces including operating and ancillary parts,
- Expenses for catering,
- Expenses for technology, equipment, etc.,
- Fees, travel expenses, expenses for accommodation and meals for moderators, speakers and interpreters,
- Expenses for general organization,
- Registration/hostesses on site,
- Expenses for public relations,
- Expenses for security,
- Protective and hygiene measures.
Value-added tax is only eligible if the beneficiary is not entitled to deduct input tax for the sponsored event.
- Trade fairs, exhibitions, cultural, sports events and similar formats, even if they are aimed exclusively at a specialized audience and/or are linked to an eligible event, and leisure events;
- Purely company, association and club events as well as events within existing business relationships, events within a scientific institution and comparable conferences and events;
- Events for which the applicant or a third party is legally obliged to carry out.
Please note: In particular, the conclusion of a supply or service contract attributable to the execution of the project is to be regarded as an early start of the measure that is detrimental to the subsidy. This includes rental agreements for event spaces, service or rental agreements for technology, catering contracts, contracts for the promotion of the event.
If such commitments are made before the application is submitted, funding for the entire event is excluded.
- The funding is granted as project funding by way of fixed-amount financing as an ear-marked, non-repayable grant.
- Only expenses incurred directly in connection with the implementation of the event are eligible for funding.
- The amount of funding is staggered according to the number of participants on site and the number of conference days. The more participants there are on site and the longer the event lasts, the higher the corresponding funding amount.
The amount of funding is staggered according to the number of attendees on site and the num-ber of congress days.
If at least 30% of the participants come from abroad, a funding supplement of 30% is granted. If the event takes place entirely during the congress off-season (August or November to March), a funding supplement of 20% is granted. Both supplements can also be applied for cumulatively for an event.
2 congress days | 3 congress days | 4 congress days | 5 congress days | |
Attendees on-site | Grant in € | Grant in € | Grant in € | Grant in € |
300 - 499 | 12.000 | 15.000 | 18.000 | 21.000 |
500 - 749 | 17.500 | 22.500 | 27.500 | 32.500 |
750 - 999 | 22.500 | 28.125 | 33.750 | 39.375 |
1.000 - 1.999 | 25.000 | 32.500 | 40.000 | 47.500 |
2.000 - 2.999 | 40.000 | 50.000 | 60.000 | 70.000 |
3.000 - 4.999 | 45.000 | 60.000 | 75.000 | 90.000 |
5000 und mehr | 50.000 | 75.000 | 100.000 | 125.000 |
The application is submitted online via the application portal of Bayern Innovativ GmbH. There, you can also upload all necessary documents. The application must be completed in German.
Please note: Proof of booking the event location in Bavaria must be submitted to Bayern Innovativ GmbH no later than six months after approval. Booking the event location before submitting the application is harmful to the funding.
The employees of Bayern Innovativ GmbH will conduct a formal and content-related review. Please note that incomplete or erroneous applications must be corrected, which unfortunately delays the processing of your application.
Decisions will be provided digitally through the application portal. If the funding decision is positive, you will receive a funding notice Please note that all deadlines, notification obligations, and requirements of the funding notice are binding. Failure to comply is harmful to the funding. If the funding decision is negative, you will receive a rejection notice.
The proper use of the funding must be demonstrated within six months after the event (simple proof of use). Upon request of the funding agency, corresponding evidence/receipts must be provided. The use will be randomly checked. In addition, on-site inspections will be carried out.
The funding will be disbursed after the submission of the proof of use and review by Bayern Innovativ GmbH.
From the receipt of the funding notification, a one-time partial withdrawal of up to half of the approved funds is possible, as long as these funds are required within three months after payment for due payments to settle expenses for the event location. The invoice/payment request from the event location must be submitted as evidence. The disbursement of the remaining funds will be made as a second instalment after the proof of use has been reviewed.
Applications can only be submitted digitally on the landing page of Bayern Innovativ.
If you have any questions regarding the application process, please contact Bayern Innovativ GmbH using the following contact details:
Email: kongressinitiative@bayern-innovativ.de
Address: Bayern Innovativ GmbH, Am Tullnaupark 8, 90402 Nuremberg.
Additional note: The information provided is without guarantee. The content is taken from the website of the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism and the website of Bayern Innovativ GmbH.
The Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism is providing funding to strengthen the Bavarian tourism industry through conferences and congresses taking place until the end of 2029.
Below you will find the background, conditions for applying and the application process, which can be submitted from July 22, 2024, as a PDF for download.
Information on applying for the Bavarian Congress Initiative (PDF)
Following the announcement of the implementation of the Bavarian Congress Initiative in February of this year, a meeting of the Bavarian Cabinet was held on April 30, 2024, with Bavarian Minister of Tourism Michaela Kaniber.
Bavaria will become the first federal state to actively support its cities and rural areas in acquiring conferences and congresses.
The state plans to allocate €25 million over the next five years.
• Applications for conference funding are expected to open from July 22 onwards
• Conferences and meetings taking place until the end of 2029 are eligible for funding
• Events must have a minimum of 300 participants
• Duration of at least two days
