Set up by the City of Vienna, the EUR 4 million fund is aimed at domestic and international organizers who are planning meetings to be held in Vienna between 1 July 2022 and 31 December 2024. Applications are possible until three weeks before the starting date of the event.
(Association) congresses and corporate events are of central importance for Vienna’s tourism industry. Besides their key role as an economic asset and a moving force for driving the internationalization of the city, they are a trigger for local value creation. The Vienna Meeting Fund 2022-2024 was launched as a logical successor of the Vienna Meeting Fund 2021-2023 and set up as a source of additional funding for organizers looking to host congresses and corporate events under the current circumstance. Funding is provided for costs incurred when actually organizing meetings and is specifically not intended as a source of compensation for any financial losses sustained.
What is covered by the fund?
The Vienna Meeting Fund 2022-2024 provides funding for events held between 1 July 2022 and 31 December 2024. The fund supports business events that actually take place – for which the (registered) participants are known to the organizer – and which add value for Vienna as an innovation hub and a business location. This includes (association) congresses and meetings, as well as corporate events and meetings.
Purely (corporate) evening events such as galas, award ceremonies or Christmas parties, as well as exhibitions, fairs and cultural or sporting events are not eligible for funding.
Funding is available for variable costs paid to third parties which are related directly to the staging of the event. Examples include costs associated with the event location and for other service providers such as accommodations, A/V companies and caterers.
What funding possibilities are available?
Funding is allocated according to three modules. Module 1 is the basic requirement, and applications for the additional modules are only possible if the criteria for Module 1 are fulfilled.
- Funding Module 1: Event to take place in Vienna (basic requirement for funding)
The basic requirement for applying for funding is that the event is hosted in Vienna, payment is made to the venue (hotel or event location), the event is attended by at least 50 on-site participants and it lasts a minimum of four hours. - Funding Module 2: Event generates overnight stays
In addition to the criteria for the first module, the event must also generate overnight stays for hotels in Vienna. To qualify for funding under the second module, the number of overnight stays generated by the event must be equivalent to 30% of the total number of on-site participants in 2022, 50% in 2023 and 50% international in 2024. - Funding Module 3: The event is hybrid
If costs are demonstrably incurred for the continuous implementation of the event as a hybrid meeting, it qualifies for funding under the third module.
The maximum support available per event – provided the criteria for all three funding modules are met – is EUR 60,000. The maximum level of support from each funding module is shown in the funding guidelines.
Who can apply for funding?
The Vienna Meeting Fund 2022-2024 is aimed at all domestic and international organizers who plan and host a meeting themselves or through a third-party and bear the financial risk and therefore ultimate responsibility for all costs.
Applications cannot be submitted by applicants facing pending bankruptcy proceedings, by the federal government, provincial governments, municipalities, regional authorities, political parties (in the meaning of the Austrian Political Parties Act 2012) or comparable foreign institutions, or by institutions without legal capacity.
How are applications made?
Applications can be made online at any time until 3 December 2024 through the Vienna Convention Bureau. After the formal evaluation, applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. If all of the funding available under the Vienna Meeting Fund 2022-2024 is allocated before the end of the submission period, a notice to this effect will be posted on the Vienna Convention Bureau website. The completed application must be submitted to the Vienna Convention Bureau at least three weeks before the starting date of the event.
Events that receive funding from the Vienna Meeting Fund 2022-2024 must display the Meeting Destination Vienna logo in their marketing materials.
