Case Study KiteKraft: 169,250€ for Wind Innovation

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Why This Use Case Matters

Many companies invest in innovation — but financing is often the bottleneck: prototypes, tests, iterations, engineering capacity, and documentation all cost time and money. The KiteKraft use case makes it tangible how the Forschungszulage can help implement innovation projects systematically and with better financial predictability.

Particularly with demanding technologies (such as new energy systems), significant effort arises before a product can be scaled. This is precisely where the Forschungszulage comes in: it rewards innovation work that is methodically planned and technically justified.

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Short Profile: KiteKraft and the Innovation Project

KiteKraft pursues a clear vision: to accelerate the transition to clean energy — with a technology that has the potential to fundamentally transform wind energy. Instead of conventional towers, the company develops flying wind turbines.

At the core are designs engineered for high power density at low weight. The following technical approaches are combined, among others:

• Boxplane structures for stable, lightweight load-bearing frameworks
• Intelligent control surfaces to precisely regulate the flight
• Aluminium-extruded wings to optimise weight, stability, and manufacturability
• Eight on-board electric machines that work as motors or generators depending on the operating state, thereby supporting energy efficiency throughout the flight cycle

KiteKraft describes its designs as potentially up to 10 times more efficient than conventional wind turbines — a strong example of how innovation can produce not just incremental but structurally new solutions.

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The Funding: 169,250€ Forschungszulage for KiteKraft

As part of the use case, KiteKraft was able to secure 169,250€ through the Forschungszulage. This funding is particularly relevant because it is:

• plannable (compared to many competitive programmes),
• a meaningful relief on innovation costs,
• also available for companies that do not have classic "research departments" but develop in a technically demanding way.

The crucial point: the Forschungszulage is not just "money", but an instrument to document innovation more systematically, delineate it cleanly, and make it eligible for funding.

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Why the Forschungszulage Is Such a Good Fit for Innovation Projects

The Forschungszulage is for many companies the "low-barrier" funding option with high strategic impact — especially when:

• technical uncertainties are involved,
• multiple iterations and tests are required,
• prototypes need to be developed and validated,
• a team is continuously working on a technological solution.

It is therefore ideally suited to companies like KiteKraft, where the innovation lies not just in the product but also in architecture, controls, material concept, and system integration.

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Role of zeitmaker.com: Implementing Funding Efficiently — with Measurable Advantage

For the Forschungszulage to deliver its full benefit, a clean process is essential: correct project delineation, clear technical description, comprehensible novelty/uncertainty, and appropriate documentation.

zeitmaker.com provides support throughout the entire process — with an approach that delivers above all one thing for companies: less internal effort with higher certainty of success and planning.

Concrete advantages (with figures) at zeitmaker.com:

• 0€ risk for the application through a success-based model (costs only arise upon success)
• up to 100% digital handling, keeping internal time expenditure to a minimum
• fast project check to assess eligibility before unnecessary work arises

More on this:

• zeitmaker.com (overview & getting started)

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Official Bodies and Reliable Information

For the Forschungszulage, official information is particularly important — both regarding the legal basis and the process:

• Bescheinigungsstelle Forschungszulage (BSFZ): bsfz.de
• Federal Ministry of Finance (framework & tax classification): bundesfinanzministerium.de
• Customs authority (responsible body for tax assessment/application implementation): zoll.de

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Conclusion: KiteKraft Shows How to Make Innovation Financially Viable

The KiteKraft use case stands for ambitious technology development with real impact. At the same time it demonstrates very practically: the Forschungszulage can be a decisive lever for strengthening innovation work financially — without companies having to navigate opaque funding competitions.

If you are developing innovations (e.g. new products, processes, software, or technical systems), a structured look at the Forschungszulage is almost always worthwhile.

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