User guide

The Transferkompass HC-H2 is free of charge. You need an account to search.

1. Open transferkompass.hch2.de and click Log in.
2. Switch to Register, enter your name, organisation and email address and choose a password (at least 8 characters).
3. Optional: tick the newsletter box if you would like to hear about new features – and the box “visible as a partner in the network” if others should be able to have you suggested for matching projects.
4. Confirm your email address via the link in the email you receive. Then you can log in.

Three ways to get there

After logging in you see the input field for your project straight away. Above it, the tab bar lets you choose how to start – hover over a tab to see a short explanation. On the far right you will find My area.

• Short description – you have an idea and describe it in a few sentences. The quickest way. → Chapter 2
• Detailed – you already know details such as TRL, budget or partners and enter them in a form.
• Inspiration – you don't have a concrete idea yet and want to browse by topic. → Chapter 6

The clearer your description, the better the matches.

1. Choose Short description and describe your project in the field “Your project, in your own words”.
2. Click Find funding options.
3. The Transferkompass now asks you a few short follow-up questions – for example about your federal state, area, project phase, your role and your funding needs. Simply pick the answer that fits.
4. It then searches around 3,000 programmes from state, federal and EU sources as well as the German Research Foundation (DFG) and checks the key details live against the funding guidelines. This can take a moment.

The follow-up questions

Your answers feed directly into the search. For your role, for example, the Transferkompass distinguishes whether you are founding a start-up out of a research institution or university – it then also looks for programmes that are applied for via the institution.

• No answer fits? Use the field “Your own answer (optional)” or Skip this question.
• Had enough questions? Match now with the information provided starts the search right away.

Each matching funding programme appears as a card with a traffic-light assessment.

The traffic light

What a card shows

Simplified view of a result card.

• Key details – status, target group, funding body, funding rate, TRL, deadline, duration and maximum funding at a glance. If the funding rate depends on the type of applicant, this is noted.
• Summary – strengths, gaps, next steps and risks for exactly your project.
• Details & sources – what the live check of the funding guideline found, what is still unclear and when it was last checked.

Foundations

If foundations match your idea, a separate summary card “🏛️ Foundations – … match your idea” appears below the results. Expand it to see the individual foundations with target group, type of funding and how to apply. Go to foundation → takes you to their website. Foundation details are in German.

A programme looks interesting? Here is how to take the next step.

Ask follow-up questions

Click Questions? and ask in your own words, for example “Does this also apply to universities?” or “Can I apply for staff costs?”. The answer is based on the funding guideline; if needed, additional research is carried out.

Go to the source

To the funding guideline ↗ takes you straight to the funding body's original text – that is where the binding conditions are.

New programmes

If new programmes have been added to the Transferkompass in the last 7 days, you will see a turquoise line “… new funding programmes in the last 7 days” below the input box with Show all new →. The section “🆕 Fresh in the Transferkompass” on the start page also shows the newest programmes – grouped into Federal & state, EU and Foundations.

With Show potential partners, the Transferkompass suggests organisations that fit the programme and your project.

The suggestions are colour-coded so you can see how reliable they are:

• From our network Partners from the HC-H2 network – they registered themselves. If it says “Open to direct email contact”, you may write to them directly.
• Confirmed suggestion with Source ↗ – the organisation's website was found and checked automatically.
• Unconfirmed suggestion with Search on Google ↗
  AI suggestion, website not automatically confirmed – please check yourself before contacting.

No concrete idea yet? Browse by topic and get inspired.

1. Choose Inspiration.
2. Pick an area (Energy, Health, Mobility, Digitalization, Environment, Production, Other) and/or enter a topic, e.g. “hydrogen”.
3. Optional: tick 🆕 New programmes only to see only programmes from the last 7 days.
4. Click Show programmes.

For each programme you can display an example project – an AI sketch of what a matching project could look like, with suitable partners. Here, too, you have Questions?, the PDF report, saving and sharing.

🏛️ All foundations at a glance shows all selected foundations, sorted by their main focus.

Your personal storage – everything in one place.

• 🔖 Save search below your results saves the search including its results. In “My area” you can reopen it with View results straight away – no waiting.
• Search again reruns the same search with current deadlines and key details.
• ☆ Save on a programme card or next to a partner stores it individually in “My area”. You can create a PDF report from your saved programmes.
• You can get rid of any entry at any time with Remove or Delete.

Pass results on to colleagues or keep them for your records.

Share by email

• ✉️ Share by email on a card opens your email program with the programme name, suitability, key details, link to the funding guideline and partner suggestions.
• ✉️ Share results by email next to “Save search” sends the whole list of matches.
• You see the email before sending and can change it freely. Your project description is not included.

PDF report

Save as PDF report creates a detailed report with key details, assessment, partners, your follow-up questions and – in Inspiration – the example project.

The Transferkompass HC-H2 is a demonstrator – your feedback decides what gets better next.

• Below the results, the Transferkompass asks: “How helpful was this result for you?” One click is enough, a few extra questions are optional.
• As soon as results are shown, the Feedback button on the right edge of the screen takes you there from anywhere.
• If you like, you can send the full report anonymously – so we can see exactly where an assessment was off.