Yes, please inform us promptly by email.

After you have submitted your application, you will receive a confirmation email as soon as possible.

All applicants will be informed of the funding decision by email during the week of January 19-23, 2026.

A maximum of five applications can be funded this year. Should the distribution of the funding, which totals up to €25,000, be such that more projects can be funded, we will support this.

We will use evaluation criteria, which relateto the seven goals of the climate emergency declaration or the sustainaibility mission statement.

The following criteria are assessed: feasibility (budget is appropriate, risk factors are acceptable, measures can be implemented within a year, etc.), relevance (there is a real problem or actual need, the target group receives concrete support, etc.), and novelty of the project (how original and different is the project from previous activities or initiatives), the quality of the submission, the expected short- and medium-term impact, and the communication and transfer concept (transferability and visibility within Freie Universität Berlin).

We are also interested in your motivation.

Yes, all applications submitted can receive the evaluation when requested by the applicants. In this way, we would like to help applicants revise their proposals for future calls.

Descriptions of the ideas, the project participants, and the results will be made open to the public on the website of the Unit for Sustainability & Energy, in press releases or articles as well as during the midterm event in summer 2026. Photos and videos during this event will be shared. Communication will be coordinated with the respective applicants.

If an idea is not selected for this call, it will not be published.

All applications will be treated confidentially. Applications will be forwarded solely to the jury. We will only use the contents of your application in the context of this call.

When we receive notification that an application has been approved for funding, we, as the administrative department, set up the cost center for you. All billing, etc., is handled by us.

Eligible expenditures are limited to costs actually incurred and expenses necessary for the implementation of the idea.

Applicants must submit a final report (maximum 3 pages) including a certificate of expenditure as a PDF to the Unit for Sustainability & Energy after completing the project or, in case of premature termination. This report will not be published, but is necessary for internal reporting and documentation.

Innovations are characterized by the fact that they are generally accepted and widely used. We would like to point out that the submitted proposals will be very different from one another and thus their course of realization during the year.

Furthermore, you or at least one team member must attend the kick-off meeting on February 02, 2026, the workshops to prepare for the midterm event in 2026 and the event itself, as well as a final check-out meeting in December 2026. The exact dates will be determined at the kick-off meeting in February 2026.

Support in the form of cash or non-cash contributions by third parties is permitted. No profits may be generated, e.g. through the sale of material objects. Double funding of activities is not permitted.

Everyone who received funding will present their projects and previous results to date to a wide FU-audience. At the event, the "inventors" will have the opportunity to pitch their motivation and project objective. They should show how their idea reached the implementation phase, what its status is and which steps will be taken over the next 5-6 months. Based on the pitches, the audience will give recommendations for further development (so-called FeedForward).

The event will take place in June or September 2026 and will also serve as a networking opportunity.

The inventors will be actively involved in the design of this event.

The Unit for Sustainability & Energy will prepare the transfer with the project implementers after a short summer break. There will be meetings organized as needed to discuss scalability or continuity.

In addition to the call for applications FUturist, there is funding for Living Labs and further ones.

Yes, this is possible if you have revised your idea. You can ask for advice on the selection criteria used for the call.