Research in Germany: Networks and Clusters



Networks and Clusters

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Over the last few years, the Federal Government has initiated a series of projects which aim to create networks and clusters that promote new technologies. They pool both industry and academic institutions in their research and development activities.

One key aim of these aggregations is to accelerate the process of making new technology products marketable.

Networks and clusters are arranged with respect to

  • regional representation
  • research topics
  • specific application areas and future markets.

Both the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) support these types of aggregations with different programmes and competitions such as:

  • Kompetenznetze Deutschland Initiative
  • Leading Edge Cluster Competition
  • Innovation Alliances

Example: The Innovation Alliance on Lithium-Ion Battery LIB 2015
The Innovation Alliance on Lithium-Ion Battery LIB 2015 is comprised of BASF, BOSCH, EVONIK, LiTec and Volkswagen, and supported by the Federal Government. 15% of the research project is financed by the Federal Government (60 million euros) and 85% by the consortium of firms (360 million euros), an example of how government incentives can advance research and development. The framework of networks and clusters also strengthens the country’s contribution to international research cooperation.

Research Activities

Research activities are performed in a variety of fields, e. g. engineering, biotechnology, energy and environment, chemistry and nanotechnology.

Research Budget

Statistics on the total budget are not available. Public funding is provided as seed money to form networks and clusters and support research projects on the precondition that industry and private investors share the financial costs.


Kompetenznetze Deutschland

Kompetenznetze Deutschland initiative

The Kompetenznetze Deutschland initiative of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) brings together the best-performing innovation clusters in Germany. These are differentiated in nine thematical groups and again spread in eight defined regions within Germany.


Solar panels.

The Leading Edge Cluster Competition

The Leading Edge Cluster Competition was launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in 2007, as part of the High-Tech Strategy for Germany. A core element of this strategy is building bridges between science and industry. Clusters are constituted by companies, scientific institutions and policy-makers.


Federal Minister Schavan and the Innovation alliance on molecular imaging.

Innovation alliances

Innovation alliances form a new instrument for research and innovation policy within the framework of the High-Tech Strategy initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Currently, there are six innovation alliances created by the BMBF, the scientific community and industry.


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