IOTA Business Innovation Program

IOTA Foundation ·

Build Real-World Solutions on IOTA

TL;DR:
The IOTA Foundation's Product Adoption Department is launching an initiative to support real-world solutions on the upcoming IOTA Rebased Mainnet. Throughout 2025, businesses can apply for funding up to €100,000, along with technical, marketing, and strategic support for projects in tokenization, decentralized identities, supply chain tracking, and more. The program is open to businesses at any stage, focusing on applications that address real-world challenges. Approved applicants will define milestones with the IOTA Foundation before launching on the upgraded Mainnet. For details, email partnerships@iota.org.

We see public, permissionless Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) as a transformative tool for addressing real-world challenges and driving meaningful change, far beyond the speculative assets and collectibles that dominate much of the current market and public perception. While private and permissioned infrastructures have demonstrated success in selected real-world use cases, public networks remain an untapped frontier for broader, more impactful applications. 

The upcoming IOTA Rebased upgrade aims to unlock this potential by equipping the IOTA Mainnet with the functionality, stability, and scalability needed to meet real-world demands, empowering innovators to overcome key challenges such as privacy, regulatory compliance, and technological complexity. To support this, we’re launching the IOTA Business Innovation Program, offering up to $100,000 in funding per applicant, along with technical, marketing, and strategic support. Open to businesses of any size, the program runs from today until 31 December 2025 and targets impactful applications on the IOTA Rebased Mainnet like tokenized assets, decentralized identities, and supply chain tracking.

Led by the Product Adoption Department, this initiative empowers builders to showcase how public DLT can drive lasting change. Ready to build on IOTA? Read on to find out more.

The IOTA Business Innovation Program: What We’re Looking For

We’re inviting innovative builders and solution providers to create impactful applications that validate the power of IOTA Rebased – check out our updated IOTA Documentation for a deep dive into what IOTA Rebased brings to builders. 

The focus of this program is on real-world use case implementations. To ensure we work with partners who align with our vision and want to bring real-world utility to the IOTA Mainnet, we’ve established the following decision framework:

Our Decision Framework

  1. Mainnet Utilization: Projects commit to demonstrating measurable activity on the L1 IOTA Mainnet (e.g., on-chain transactions and asset issuance) within a reasonable timeframe.
  2. Proven Capabilities: Teams should showcase the technical and domain expertise necessary to deliver a market-ready solution.
  3. Functional Representation: Solutions must create on-chain assets tied to real-world counterparts (e.g., identities, physical goods, other assets) to emphasize tangible impact.

Example Use Cases We’re Excited About

  • Supply Chain Tracking: Tokenize assets for authenticity and traceability, addressing compliance in global logistics.
  • Digital Product Passports (DPPs): Provide end-to-end transparency on product provenance, composition, and environmental impact throughout its lifecycle, fostering trust among consumers, regulators, and supply chain stakeholders.
  • Identity and Access Management: Implement decentralized identities for secure onboarding, credentialing, or access control.
  • Data Integrity & Compliance: Provide real-time data anchoring for auditing or regulatory checks in heavily regulated sectors (e.g., pharmaceuticals, finance, government records). For example, CO2 tracking, where immutable audit trails can hold stakeholders accountable for their carbon emissions.
  • Tokenization of Real-World Assets: Represent physical commodities, real estate, or other tangible real-world assets on-chain to enable new business models.

These categories aren’t exhaustive – any serious, real-world application that aims to solve tangible business, industry, or societal problems is welcome.

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Disclaimer:
While we are open to supporting solutions with a financial component (e.g., trade finance), this call to action generally excludes projects that revolve around token value speculation (meme coins, speculative NFTs, crypto casinos) or high-risk financial mechanisms with no real-world integration (pure DeFi yield farming, liquidity pools), as well as pure infrastructure integrations (e.g., a crypto wallet adding IOTA token support without an actual use case).

This program also excludes applications that aim to build on private/permissioned network instances or the Layer 2 IOTA EVM. Our focus is solely on the upcoming, public IOTA Rebased Mainnet.

If your idea doesn’t meet these criteria, don’t worry, the recently announced iotalabs Grants Program could be the right fit for you.

What We Offer to Help You Succeed

From substantial funding and cutting-edge tools to expert guidance and marketing support, the  IOTA Business Innovation Program provides everything you need to bring your project to life on the L1 IOTA Mainnet. Below, you’ll find an overview of the key benefits and resources available to empower your journey and maximize your impact.

Funding

  • Up to €100,000 per selected applicant, intended to help you become IOTA-ready after the Rebased upgrade and bring your solution to market on the upcoming L1 IOTA Mainnet. This is not meant to be a continuous pipeline of financial support; once live, you’re expected to sustain growth through your own business model.
  • Milestone-based disbursements tied to clear, measurable on-chain metrics on the L1 IOTA Mainnet (e.g. issued transactions, assets on-chain, etc.)

Technology and Products

  • Core Protocol Features: From Move-language smart contracts to our object-based ledger architecture, ensuring a robust, scalable foundation.
  • SDKs & Documentation: Comprehensive SDKs, documentation, and reference architectures for seamless integration.
  • Advanced Products: IOTA Wallet, IOTA Explorer, IOTA Identity, IOTA Trust Hierarchies, and more…

Technical Support and Resources

  • Dedicated Consulting: Expert guidance to tackle technical challenges specific to your project’s requirements.
  • Best Practices: Advice, Tutorials, and Reference Architectures on how to leverage the IOTA Rebased Mainnet effectively to maximize your project’s impact.
  • Development: Whenever there’s demand for a vertical-agnostic building block, such as a reusable smart contract or a domain-independent module, our development team may take over the development of such a component for broader ecosystem benefit.

Marketing and Visibility

  • Blog Posts & Case Studies: We’ll help share your project’s story and achievements with the broader IOTA community.
  • Industry Events: Present at hackathons, webinars, and exhibitions hosted or promoted by IOTA.

How to Apply

Our application process ensures alignment with both IOTA’s strategic objectives and your project’s goals:

  1. Submit Your Proposal: Use our Partnership Form to outline your objectives, how they align with our mission, and how you plan to leverage the L1 IOTA Mainnet after IOTA Rebased. The application process is open until the end of the year, but we encourage early applicants as spots may fill up quickly.
  2. Initial Meeting: Upon review, an IOTA Partnerships Manager will schedule a meeting to discuss the scope, goals, and alignment with IOTA’s product portfolio.
  3. Pitch Your Idea: Prepare a one-hour presentation detailing your concept, roadmap, initial milestone ideas, and how your project addresses a real-world challenge using the L1 IOTA Mainnet.
  4. Complete the Due Diligence Form:  Provide further details about your team, resources, and readiness to execute.
  5. Evaluation and Collaborative Milestones
    • Proposal Assessment: Proposals are evaluated against our Partner Decision Framework.
    • Milestone Definition: For proposals that pass the evaluation, we’ll work collaboratively to define clear, reasonable milestones. This ensures both parties share a realistic understanding of deliverables, timelines, and success metrics.
  6. Announcements and Formal AgreementsUpon agreement of milestones and scope, successful applicants will finalize the collaboration arrangement and commence building on the L1 IOTA Mainnet.
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For any questions or clarifications, please contact us at partnerships@iota.org.

Join Us in Building on the L1 IOTA Mainnet

We invite dedicated builders and innovators to shape the next era of public DLT. By harnessing the capabilities of the IOTA Mainnet after the IOTA Rebased upgrade, your project can showcase how decentralized technology creates a genuine, transformative impact.

With robust technical resources, community backing, and meaningful financial support, we empower you to bring your vision to life. By participating, you’ll join a global community of pioneers proving that public DLT is practical, scalable, and industry-ready.

Ready to transform industries with IOTA’s public DLT? Submit your proposal today and gain funding, tools, and guidance to turn your vision into reality on the IOTA Rebased L1 Mainnet.