Germany Karliczek Strengthening Tender

Clusters4Future The big competition for the innovation networks of the future goes into the second roundThe Clusters4Future competition is entering the second round. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF is using this to support the development of regional innovation networks in which the federal government will invest a total of up to 450 million euros over the next ten years. Applications are possible until mid-February. Federal Research Minister Anja Karliczek explainsGermany should remain a successful innovation country that it is in the future For this we need innovation-friendly framework conditions in the regions that strengthen the transfer of innovative ideas from research into practice. Our Clusters4Future competition focuses on the diverse regional innovation potential and promotes powerful networks from science business and society. These partnerships are established locally and accelerate the transfer of fundamental research results into practice This then leads to innovative products and services. This is an essential factor for economic growth prosperity and quality of life.An impressive current example of the innovative strength that lies in our country is the biotechnology company BioNTech from Mainz which is on everyones lips worldwide due to its very successful vaccine development against Covid-19. We are currently supporting BioNTech for vaccine development with 375 million euros. But my company has supported this company right from the start. BioNTech is also a partner of a strong regional innovation network in the Rhine-Main region - the leading-edge cluster CI3 - and was able to fall back on the structures of this network especially in its development phase.Experience shows that where the diverse knowledge from science business and society is brought together in regional alliances significant innovation structures emerge which - as the example of BioNTech shows - can gain global importance.I am very pleased that we are consistently continuing the path we have chosen with the second round of the Clusters4Future competition that has now started - for innovations and development in Germany.