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With the help of European funds, the country will be able to invest more in strategic technologies in the future. The EU Commission has approved corresponding plans.
With the help of European funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism will be able to invest more in strategic technologies in the future. The Commission of the European Union (EU) has approved corresponding plans. This was announced by Economics Minister Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut .
"The green light from Brussels enables us to invest even more specifically in the development and transfer of strategic technologies. This benefits the competitiveness of Baden-Württemberg, but also that of the European Union as a whole," said Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor and Tourism, with satisfaction. The investments enable companies to continue to earn money in key sectors in a strong industrial location such as Baden-Württemberg and to stay ahead of the game.
The investments were triggered by the establishment of the "Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform" (STEP) by the EU at the beginning of March 2024. STEP is intended to support critical and emerging strategic technologies and their respective value chains in relevant sectors in order to strengthen the EU's competitiveness, security and sovereignty and to reduce dependencies in strategic technology areas. These include digital technologies and technology-intensive innovations (deep tech), environmentally friendly and resource-efficient technologies and biotechnologies. The EU member states have the opportunity to use European cohesion policy funds for this purpose. Baden-Württemberg had therefore applied to be able to reallocate funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to which the state is entitled in favour of STEP.
Hydrogen, biointelligence, semiconductor and quantum technology in focus
In this context, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is initially planning to promote Baden-Württemberg's participation in a cross-state pilot line in the field of semiconductor technologies and the expansion of test infrastructures in the field of electrolysis/hydrogen , explained the minister. In addition, there will be the promotion of microproduction and verification of compact quantum systems and the establishment of a new S-TEC center for bio-intelligent value creation. In addition, the planned second call for the existing prototype funding will be consistently geared towards STEP technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning investments of an initial amount of over 35 million euros for the implementation of STEP, the minister continued.
Hoffmeister-Kraut: "We have boldly seized the opportunities offered by STEP. Our investments support highly innovative developments in these strategically critical technology sectors as well as a rapid transfer to our companies. In doing so, we will once again demonstrate our role as a leading innovation region in Europe."
Regional structural funding through ERDF
In order to promote regional structural development, Baden-Württemberg will receive around 279 million euros from the European Union from the ERDF in the funding period 2021 to 2027. The ERDF program Baden-Württemberg 2021 to 2027 is aligned with the Baden-Württemberg innovation strategy and supports the focus areas of future technologies and skills as well as resource and climate protection.
