Exploring ideas

Fostering openness

The Prototype Fund is a low-threshold funding program for free developers and small teams who develop innovative Free and Open Source Software from society and for society.

Our Mission

We fund innovative Free and Open source software from society and for society with funds from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.

The Prototype Fund is the first low-threshold funding program for independent developers in Germany who develop innovative Free and Open Source Software from society and for society. The measure, also known as “Software Sprint”, has been in place since 2017. The funding program will support software projects on their way from idea to software prototype through 2031. Users are not only consumers of software but often also experts: We use this intersection and offer tech-savvy members of civil society access to the resources and processes they need to contribute to the public good.

We only fund software projects with added social value that focus on the needs of users and are freely available, sustainably accessible and customizable as open source software. There are three funding streams: “Innovation”, “Resilience”, and “Up and Coming”. The “Innovation” track supports projects in the areas of data security and software infrastructure. The “Up and Coming” program focuses on promoting young talent in these fields. The “Resilience” track focuses on decentralized and open alternatives to Big Tech and its centralized ecosystems.