Why are collaboration and interaction important for business R&D?

German business and scientific research cooperate in many areas. For example, there are numerous joint programmes and research projects involving companies as well as universities and public research institutions.

Many different forms of cooperation are possible here:

contract research for business companies carried out by universities and non-university research institutions
joint staffing and funding of research projects
business-funded research groups
donations and sponsorship for specific R&D institutes
establishment of endowed professorships by companies
jointly funded research structures or institutes
new collaborative models in networks, clusters or public-private partnerships/research campuses

Knowledge transfer

These various forms of cooperation are supported by a broad and specially tailored range of public funding models. With these measures, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims to strengthen the links between science, research, business and society.

They include, for example, Clusterplattform Deutschland, a platform that aims to keep actors in and outside Germany informed of the latest programmes and calls for proposals of the Federal Government, the German states and the European Union.

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) is the most important provider of third-party funding for universities.It also supports knowledge transferbetween scientific research and business.The DFG funds over 100 transfer projects a year.

This will have a twofold effect: on the one hand, knowledge transfer is expected to contribute to increased innovation in the business economy and society, while at the same time collaborative projects between research and non-research partners can also give rise to new research questions and in turn deliver ideas for basic research.

Joint research

Industrial giants should not be the only companies able to try out their ideas and put them into practice. Small and medium-sized enterprises generally cannot afford to carry out research on their own, however. That’s why there are extensive funding structures, supported with taxpayers’ money, that support SMEs with research and development.

The biggest of these is without doubt Industrial Collective Research (IGF), a unique programme that provides targeted support for SMEs.

Research service for SMEs

The effectiveness of this research service for business, and especially for SMEs, is based on cooperation: more than 100 different research associations work together under the umbrella of the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF).

Industrial Collective Research is organized by the AiF and its members and financed by the German Federal Government with over 180 million euros. More than 23,000 companies were involved in research projects in 2022 alone.

Ultimately, everyone benefits: the results of IGF projects are published and made available to all companies.

Facts and figures

Numerous joint programmes and research projects involving companies as well as universities and research institution.

Cooperation is supported by a broad and specially tailored range of public funding models

The DFG alone finances over 100 transfer projects a year.

More than 100 industrial research associations with approx. 50,000 businesses, mostly SMEs, work together under the umbrella of the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations (AiF).