The ''Matfo'' program of the German Science Ministry (BMFT, in those days) ran from 1985 to 1994 and has been succeeded by the ''Matech'' program. The commercial success of the Matfo program, which involved some 700 projects with 1400 research partners and ca. DM 2.2 billion in funding was recently assessed to determine the effectiveness of the direct funding model in supporting innovative industrial research. The results are presented and discussed.