280,000€ Forschungszulage for Scaneca for the Development of Their 3D Body Scanners

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Profile: Scaneca and the core innovation

Scaneca GmbH (scaneca.de) develops mobile body scanners that create a detailed virtual copy of the body in a single measurement process, perform a posture analysis, determine the most important health-related parameters, and measure body circumferences.

The innovation lies in the combination of mobility, accuracy, and automated 3D model generation — a classic example of eligible hardware development in the sense of the R&D criteria.

Despite this depth of innovation, Scaneca didn't apply for public funding for the project for years. Why — and what changed — is what this real-world example shows.

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The starting point: known for years, never applied

Scaneca had known about the Forschungszulage for a long time. They still never applied. The reason was both time and the fear of bureaucracy: someone on the team would have had to dive deep into the topic. So it kept getting postponed, year after year.

The idea of hiring a consultancy didn't help at first either. The worry: even with an agency, a pile of work ends up on your desk anyway — and once you start, you're stuck in a process you never wanted. Scaneca never actively searched for a consultancy.

The biggest hurdle wasn't the application itself — it was the uncertainty about their own workload. How many documents would need to be gathered? How much "homework" would land on the team? Is everything even documented — say, employee vacation from four years ago?

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We knew the Forschungszulage existed, and we kept putting it off for years. We were aware that someone would really have to dig into it, and we didn't have the time. The biggest problem was the worry that you just end up wasting time on it. How many documents do I still have to gather, how much homework do I have?

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The turning point: a conversation at a trade fair

The contact didn't come through a Google search but at a trade fair booth. Erich from Zeitmaker approached the team proactively, and two things made the difference:

1. A promise that addressed the actual concern: Erich organizes the entire process so the team has to invest minimal time. The very uncertainty that had blocked them for years was off the table.
2. A conversation at eye level: both sides are technical people. Instead of a sales show, it was a technical conversation about the product.

“

Erich came up to us at the trade fair and said: I understand you, I know how it is for you. I organize everything so that you have to invest as little time as possible. That spoke to me. And then his technical nature — I'm a technical person myself. At a trade fair you talk to sales people all day, so you're glad to talk to a technical person for a change.

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The result: 280,000€ in Forschungszulage

Scaneca tried the collaboration with a single project: the development of the body scanner. The consequence after the first run: Scaneca now gets the scanner development funded for the following years as well.

In total, Scaneca secured 280,000€ in Forschungszulage for the development of its 3D body scanners.

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What this example means for you

The pattern we saw at Scaneca shows up at many tech companies and SMEs:

• "We know the Forschungszulage exists, but we don't have the time." That's exactly what a setup is for where the consultancy does the work instead of just advising.
• "We don't know how much effort will land on us." This uncertainty is almost always bigger than the actual effort. At Scaneca, it was the strongest obstacle.
• "Is our development even eligible?" Hardware development with real technical risk — like a mobile 3D scanner — is a textbook example of eligible R&D. That applies to MedTech just as much as to mechanical engineering or software.
• Claiming retroactively pays off: the Forschungszulage can be claimed up to four years retroactively. Projects that have long been running are not lost.

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The first step

Want to know whether your development is eligible and what's realistically possible?

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