International cooperation increases competency in research and innovation

Global markets unleash opportunities for innovative German companies: Global challenges call for international cooperation in developing scientific solutions. Internationalization is a key success factor in worldwide competition and is therefore an important component of German innovation policy.

In February 2008, the Federal Government approved the Strategy for the Internationalization of Science, Research and Development to help to improve Germany's position in the knowledge society. Germany's role as a centre of science and innovation is to be strengthened with the help of cross-border cooperation. Germany is to become a top address for the best researchers and students from all over the world. The Federal Government's aim is to pool international and European strengths in order to make use of their potential to Germany's advantage and to come closer to achieving Europe's Lisbon target of becoming the world's most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic area.

A great deal has already been achieved in the first year of the Internationalization Strategy:

Better use is being made of the opportunities for international cooperation. The following measures have contributed towards this:

  • The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship - the highest endowed international research award - and the continuation of the Sofia Kovalevskaja Prize help top-class and up-and-coming scientists to transfer their research work to German universities. Funding is also being provided to encourage the mobility of German scientists.
  • The establishment of German Houses of Science and Innovation - in Russia, India, Japan and Brazil - is strengthening Germany's presence abroad. Responsibility for this concept is shared by the Federal Government, the scientific and intermediary organizations (German Research Association -DFG, Helmholtz Association - HGF, Fraunhofer Society - FhG, German Academic Exchange Service - DAAD) as well as the chambers of foreign trade.
  • Bilateral and multilateral cooperation schemes as well as international approaches are becoming a regular feature of the Federal Government's research funding programmes. Support is also provided for the worldwide networking of innovative companies.
  • The multilateral dialogue for an international research agenda was set up within the framework of the G8 and OECD. Topics include in particular dealing with climate change, securing energy supplies and fighting poverty and infectious diseases. The Federal Government is playing a leading role in this initiative.
  • The instruments of development cooperation and scientific-technological cooperation are to be further coordinated in order to encourage knowledge-based development processes and establish the preconditions for science cooperation with developing countries.
  • The Federal Government supports international campaigns to promote Germany as a centre of study, science and innovation.

The European Research Area is taking shape.

 Strengthening Europe's competitiveness is of central importance against the background of globalization. Germany plays a decisive role in this field as a leading player in European research policy.

  • By helping to shape the European Research Council (ERC), Germany has firmly established the principle of excellence as the sole precondition for European research funding.
  • The German Council Presidency played a decisive role in devising the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), which was founded in 2008. The aim is to develop strategic networks in promising fields of technology for the "triangle of knowledge" - education, research and innovation. This should close the gap between research results and successful marketing strategies. The first "Knowledge and Innovation Communities" (KIC) will be established in 2009 - initially in the fields of climate, energy and ICT.
  • Seventh Research Framework Programme (RFP): Two years after the introduction of FRP 7, Germany is continuing to receive a high share of funding, 19.6%.
  • Germany is involved in six "Joint Technology Initiatives" (JTI), in which strategic research agendas are implemented in fields which are particularly important for Europe, for example in the field of hydrogen and fuel cells.
  • The Eurostars Programme, a joint initiative involving the EUREKA Member States and the European Commission within the framework of EUREKA, provides particular support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved in cross-border cooperation projects in the field of research and development (http://www.eureka.dlr.de/en/index.php).
  • The Federal Government is participating in shaping new EU Research infrastructures under the ESFRI Process (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures). This meant that it was possible to begin work on the European X-ray laser and the international accelerator facility at the DESY research centre in Hamburg. Support is also being provided for the development of a European Statute for Research Infrastructures (ERIC) to facilitate the establishment of new pan-European research infrastructures.

Germany will continue to make a decisive contribution to European policy in future. One key area will be cooperation in the further development of the European Research Area (ERA) within the framework of the "Ljubljana Process" and the "Vision 2020". Germany has therefore helped to set up a Forum for International Cooperation (SFIC) and took over the Chair of the Forum in 2009. The Federal Government is also supporting the even stronger prioritization of education, research and innovation in Europe in the negotiations on the future of the EU Budget. The Federal Government intends to strengthen the network for innovative and market-based research when it takes over the EUREKA Presidency in July 2009. It is also supporting the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009.