Funding Initiative

The “Research Campus – Public-Private Partnership for Innovation” funding initiative

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) launched the “Research Campus – Public-Private Partnership for Innovation” funding initiative in August 2011. The initiative supports large-scale and long-term approaches towards single-site cooperation between science and industry under the Federal Government’s High-Tech Strategy.

State Secretary Georg Schütte opening the Research Campus Expert Conference 2016
“Networking Science and Industry in the Long Term”

The photo shows State Secretary Georg Schütte speaking at the opening of the Research Campus Expert Conference in Berlin.
State Secretary Georg Schütte opening the Research Campus Expert Conference (Source: Wolfgang Borrs)

“The research campuses have assumed a pioneering role by establishing these public private partnerships “on an equal footing”. They have laid the foundations for a new type of strategically oriented research structure. Their ideas can serve to stimulate future strategic cooperation schemes.”

 

Continue reading (BMBF.de)

The “Research Campus – Public-Private Partnership for Innovation” funding initiative sets out to open up and commercially develop new highly complex fields of research with a high research risk and particular potential for quantum leap innovations. This can give Germany the lead in various new technologies and fields of expertise because research on technologies and services of “the day after tomorrow” frequently provides new approaches, a high level of inter- and transdisciplinarity and early needs-orientation. The nine research campuses recommended by an independent jury will receive funding of up to two million euros per year for up to 15 years divided into several consecutive phases. This multi-phase model gives each research campus the opportunity to adapt its research strategy to meet latest developments within a potential funding period of up to fifteen years. The jury conducts an evaluation following each phase.

In addition to the funding provided by the BMBF, the partners in the research campuses also make significant contributions of their own to the running of the campus. These contributions are not only of a financial nature but also include the provision of infrastructures and staff, for example.

The topics of the R&D projects are determined by the specific research profile or research programme of the individual research campus, which are defined by the partners involved in its establishment (bottom-up approach). As R&D activities approach the development phase, the partners assume more responsibility for providing funding outside the “Research Campus – Public-Private Partnership for Innovation” funding initiative.

We are seeing a growing number of strategic collaborations where longer-term cooperation between private and public partners is institutionally anchored. […] Germany has had little experience with these forms of cooperation in the past. […] Public-Private Partnerships offer huge opportunities because they are often designed as long-term collaborations and unite complementary strengths in research and development. Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation, Annual Report 2009