SME Digital Hubs Overhaul by 2026: What’s Next for Funding?

7 min read

The 29 current Mittelstand-Digital centres will cease operations by the end of 2026. In December 2025, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWE) issued the call for proposals for the successor network – the deadline for thematic and sector-specific centres to apply is 30 April 2026, while regional centres were able to submit their outlines by the end of March. If you want qualified advisory support in your region from 2027 onwards, now is the time to find out which consortium your local centre plans to join.

Key Takeaways

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What’s changing in the network by 2027

Over the past three years, the existing network has maintained a clear focus: regional hubs, digitalisation and AI priority projects, and competence clusters in areas such as processes, communications, trade and skilled crafts. The new network retains the basic architecture but shifts the emphasis. According to the funding call dated 23 December 2025, three priorities take centre stage: micro and small enterprises, cybersecurity and inter-centre networking.

The focus on micro-enterprises is more than a wording tweak. Until 2026, many hubs aimed to bring medium-sized manufacturers or trading companies into multi-month implementation projects. From 2027 onwards, businesses with five to 20 employees move into the spotlight—classic craft workshops, local service providers and solo self-employed professionals with a handful of staff. Formats will therefore become shorter, more consultancy-heavy and lower-threshold.

Cybersecurity will receive dedicated integration in every hub. The reason: NIS-2, CER and the rising number of supply-chain attacks hit mid-tier suppliers without their own IT-security departments particularly hard. The new hubs are to provide first-line advice, incident preparedness and links to BSI services such as the “ACS Transferstelle” as a standard offering—not as a pilot.

Source: BMWE funding call, 23.12.2025

Who can still apply now – and who cannot

The application process runs in two stages: first a sketch, then – after positive feedback from the project sponsor – a full application. Universities, research institutions and transfer institutes can submit applications, typically in consortia with chambers of commerce, industry associations or sector-specific associations. Pure consulting firms without research ties cannot apply alone – this was already the case in 2023 and remains unchanged.

For regional centres, 31 March 2026 was the deadline; this round is now closed. If you want to join a regional alliance after 2027, you can do so as an associate partner once the centre receives funding. The deadline for thematic and sectoral centres expires on 30 April 2026. According to industry sources, at least 15 consortia are currently preparing their own sketches; typical topic proposals include “Cybersecurity in Craft Trades”, “AI for Service Providers”, “Digital Succession in Family Businesses” and “Sustainable Processes in Manufacturing”.

For SMEs this means: ask your local chamber of commerce whether the current regional centre is involved in the new round. For sectoral centres, it’s worth inquiring with the relevant industry association – if you are part of a consortium, you may qualify from 2027 for free kick-off workshops, implementation support and subsidised pilot projects. If you have no consortium partner, you will have to fund these services from your own budget in 2027.

“With the new funding call, we are broadening the support for SMEs in their digital transformation. The focus is explicitly on micro and small enterprises, cybersecurity and closer networking between centres.”
Paraphrased from BMWE press release dated 23 December 2025

Timeline until network launch in 2027

What SMEs Should Do Now

The new network round affects every company that has used a center’s consulting services in recent years – and all those planning to do so in 2027/2028. Here are four steps that will pay off in the next three months.

Context from Practical Project Experience

From the perspective of project managers in mid-sized companies, the transition rarely follows the BMWE timeline. The last network restructuring in 2020/2021 involved a six-month gap between the old and new hubs in active consulting—officially described as a “smooth transition.” Those who experienced it firsthand now plan for four to six months in 2026/2027 when the usual contact person is no longer available and the new one isn’t yet. This period typically overlaps with IT project budget approvals in Q1—meaning decisions are made precisely when subsidized consulting isn’t accessible.

If your hub was used purely as an “innovation event format,” losing it in 2027 won’t hurt much. But if you relied on implementation support for a specific project—ERP migration, AI pilot, digitalization of workshop processes—you should now align your project plan with the expiration date. The biggest avoidable pitfall? Launching an AI pilot in August 2026 and assuming the hub will continue supporting it through January 2027. In most cases, it won’t.

For 2027, much depends on how quickly the new hubs become operational. Experience from 2021 shows it takes three to five months from BMWE grant approval to the first public consulting service. Mid-sized companies needing concrete support by spring 2027 should now actively maintain contacts with industry associations and chambers of commerce—and ask which consortia they know that will enter the race by April 30, 2026.

The differences between hub types will matter more in 2027 than before. Regional hubs primarily work with companies from one federal state or economic region. Thematic hubs pool expertise across regions on a focus area like communications, processes, or AI applications. Sector-specific hubs target industries such as trade, skilled crafts, textiles, or energy. For mid-sized firms with a clear sector focus, dual engagement pays off: a regional site for implementation support plus a sector hub for deeper technical expertise.

The cost question will also become clearer in 2027. Consulting through the hubs remains fundamentally free for participating SMEs. Eligible expenses typically include workshops, feasibility studies, implementation support for pilots, and thematic training. Non-eligible are pure product rollouts, bespoke software development beyond the pilot phase, or license fees. Knowing this distinction lets you separate grant funds from your own budget cleanly and avoids misunderstandings during the first cost settlement.

A look at the political dimension is essential. The funding call lands amid the “Reboot Germany” framework—an autumn 2025 announcement of a €735 billion modernization offensive. Part of the funds flow into digitalization, part into infrastructure, and part into security. The Mittelstand-Digital hubs play a key role in the digital pillar: they’re the operational arm through which grant money reaches concrete projects at small and mid-sized firms. Anyone who previously saw the network as largely symbolic is underestimating its leverage on what will actually be implemented over the next five years.

One final point on networking priorities in the funding call: from 2027, the hubs are expected to collaborate more closely. Until now, the network often operated in silos—an event in Stuttgart, an implementation in Hamburg, a tool evaluation at the AI competence center. With the new call, the BMWE aims to break down these silos. For mid-sized companies, that means a business already a client of a regional hub will more easily access the specialized offering of another hub in 2027—without having to start from scratch. The pragmatic side-effect: fewer duplicated origin stories, less onboarding at a second hub, and faster help for a concrete operational question in day-to-day mid-market life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Source of cover image: Pexels / Matheus Bertelli (px:18999270)

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