BMFTR and NRC will support bilateral 2+3 projects bringing together research and industry to develop advanced materials and technologies for sustainable electric drive systems.

Bundesministerium für Forschung, Technologie und Raumfahrt (BMFTR – Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space) is supporting international research collaboration with Canada through a joint initiative with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC).

The newly launched initiative will support bilateral collaborative research and development projects known as 2+3 projects which are intended to bring together partners from research and industry. Its objectives are to advance sustainable electric propulsion technologies, diversify supply chains for electric vehicle materials, strengthen transatlantic research links and combine expertise from both countries.

Projects must focus on advanced materials and demonstrate a route towards improving the cost, performance, reliability, efficiency, sustainability, manufacturability or recyclability of electric drive systems and components. Eligible topics include sustainable materials and components for electric motors, low or rare-earth-free magnetic materials, circular manufacturing and material recovery, advanced dielectric materials, power electronics and high-voltage systems. Applications may also involve artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, interoperable material-data frameworks and system-level validation.

Consortia must include at least two German partners: a higher education institution, non-university research organisation or comparable research-capable institution, alongside a commercial business. They must also include three Canadian partners: an NRC research centre, a university and an eligible industry partner. Additional partners may participate where they benefit the project.

BMFTR will provide non-repayable project grants of up to €800,000 per joint project for the German side of the consortia. Institutions of higher education and non-commercial research institutes can expect full funding of project-related costs, with an additional 20% lumpsum available for universities. The Canadian teams will receive their funding from NRC according to the relevant national guidelines. Projects will run for 24 to 26 months.

For German applicants, the standard two-stage application process applies with DLR Projektträger acting as project management agency. Canadian partners must submit complementary applications to NRC.