Take Off Call 2026: €12.5 million, new evaluation rules, deadline 3 March 2027

Take Off is Austria's flagship funding programme for civil aviation R&D, run by the FFG on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure (BMIMI). The 2026 call is open now. Here is what was presented, plus what it means if you are planning a proposal.

Key facts

Cooperative R&D projects

• Industrial research (TRL 2-4): funding rates from 55% up to 85%.
• Experimental development (TRL 4-8): funding rates from 35% up to 60%.
• Maximum duration 36 months; requested funding between €100,000 and €2 million.
• At least one company plus one or more independent partners.

Economic Innovation Laboratory: icing

A separate instrument funds the establishment, expansion and operation of an innovation lab, with an operator managing infrastructure and services and an owner holding the assets. Up to 60 months, up to €2.5 million, single or consortium, and up to 50% of eligible costs. Given how many icing projects were presented at the event (All-weather Drone, 3D-ICESIM, LABELO), the topic choice is no accident.

New evaluation rules: read this before you write

For cooperative R&D projects, the FFG has tightened the process:

• Applications that do not fit the call's focus are rejected.
• Exclusion sub-criteria can sink a proposal on their own: project objectives and approach (1.2), quality of project planning (2.2), contribution to the call objectives (4.1) and ecological impact/sustainability (4.4).
• Only applications scoring at least 40 points in criteria 1 (quality) and 2 (feasibility) are ranked at all.
• The ranking is then based on criteria 3 (implementation and exploitation) and 4 (relevance and impact), with a minimum of 30 points.
• Unranked applications are rejected.

Outlook 2027

• 27 January 2027: Drone Forum Austria
• 18 March 2027: Aviation Forum Austria
• Q2 2027: Take Off International Call
• Q3 2027: funding decision for the 2026 call
• Q4 2027: Take Off Call 2027 and Take Off Insights 2027

Context

The budget is up from €11.2 million in the 2025 call, according to the 2025 call guide. Take Off is the BMIMI's main instrument for reaching the goals of Austria's RTI Strategy for Aviation 2040+, which frames aviation research around green and efficient, future-oriented and competitive, and safe aviation. Submission runs through the FFG's eCall system.

Back to the overview: Take Off Insights 2026