The Deutsche Bundesbank as member of the Eurosystem has the responsibility to continuously ensure the integrity of Euro-Banknotes. This is guaranteed by security features, which are not only easy for members of the public to check, but are always at least one-step ahead of counterfeiters. As a consequence, the Eurosystem – in Germany the Deutsche Bundesbank in collaboration with the European Central Bank (ECB) – is interested in new research and development projects together with the public and private sector.

These projects are funded by the ECB and are carried out under co-management of the ECB and the Deutsche Bundesbank.

We are interested in research and development projects in the following relevant fields:

• Security features that can be applied to banknotes
• Improving sustainability e.g. reduction of the carbon footprint of banknotes
• Technologies for banknote production

Funded projects can cover a wide range of technologies and can vary in duration and budget: ranging from market analysis and fundamental research to the industrial validation of technologies.

We invite research institutes and commercial companies, as well as other interested parties, to submit project proposals. Residence in the EU is not a precondition for funding.

If you have a product or concept, which might be of interest to the Deutsche Bundesbank or the ECB for use and application in regard to Euro banknotes, please send a short description of your project proposal in German or English to the e-mail specified in the right-hand column.

To protect any communications, you can also use our PGP encryption. Please download the public key. You will receive a reply as soon as possible.

For further information, or if you would like to submit a project proposal directly to the ECB, please use the link to the ECB website given below.