If your company wants to expand into developing or emerging markets, finding the right funding used to mean hours of research across dozens of websites and agencies. That just changed.
As of February 2026, the German federal government launched a new AI-powered platform called the Förderlotse Wachstumsmärkte (Growth Markets Funding Navigator). The platform was developed jointly by Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI) and the Agency for Economy and Development (AWE), on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
What is the Förderlotse Wachstumsmärkte?

It is a one-stop shop for German companies looking to become active in developing and emerging countries. The platform bundles the information and advisory services of Germany’s foreign trade promotion and development cooperation in a single central place.
It uses artificial intelligence to give companies targeted support. Instead of manually searching across multiple government portals, you answer a short set of structured questions. Based on your answers, the AI matches you with the right funding programs, networks, and contact persons.
The platform is aimed particularly at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that want to become active in developing and emerging countries, or that are already running projects there.
You can access the platform at foerderlotse-wachstumsmaerkte.de.
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