The aim of the offered project is to determine the additionality of funding to companies within the framework of ERDF co-financed measures of the federal states in the ERDF funding period 2014-2022 using econometric impact analyses. The analysis contributes to the “Evaluation of the European Structural Funds” project, which was commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK).

The ZEW is conducting an econometric impact analysis of ERDF funding for companies. So-called conditional difference-in-differences models (kDiD) are used. In a first step, a control group is formed which includes companies that have not received any ERDF funding and which does not differ in any essential characteristics from the group of ERDF-funded companies ("beneficiaries"). In a second step, the influence of the company-region funding received on various target variables is determined for the groups of beneficiaries and the weighted control group companies using difference-in-differences estimates (DiD). The following target variables are considered:

• Input: Innovation expenditure, R&D expenditure, R&D employees, fixed asset investments, training expenditure, software and database expenditure, marketing expenditure
• Output: Introduction of product and process innovations, patent applications, sales of product innovations, sales of market innovations, cost reduction through process innovations
• Outcome: sales, export quota, employment, productivity

The funding effects are determined differentiated for individual funding areas.