InnoRegio - more than a funding programme

Programme Innovation in the new federal states in former East Germany

Inspired by InnoRegio, a competition started in 1999 by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research), people from numerous professional areas have formed innovation networks. Their backgrounds: science, education, business, administration and politics. Their goal: to increase the value and competitiveness of these regions.

InnoRegio brings people together, encouraging them to develop their ability and discover their potential. The regions themselves determined what their focus should be, based on their economic and research activities, their traditions and their qualifications. Through the InnoRegio initiative, 23 topic-driven networks have been created, which are strengthening and expanding their core areas of competence through numerous different projects.

The InnoRegio process

With the InnoRegio initiative, the BMBF has launched a process of promoting innovation based on a simple observation: work with a viable future is possible where a network of research institutes, enterprises, educational institutions and political decision-makers is created - a network, which wants to see its economically successful results of its cooperation.

Innovative regional core growth areas

In 2001, the programme 'Innovative Regional Core Growth Areas' was started as a complementary initiative to InnoRegio. This measure promotes innovative initiatives in East Germany, which are based on regional clusters of competence and production (core growth areas) and committed to transforming their ideas into a market success. Nine core growth areas have been promoted until now with a total volume of approx. Euro 40 million.. In view of the positive experiences gained with this programme, it will be continued in the following years. You can find information on the conditions of promotion at: www.wachstumskerne.de.

Innovation and business foundation laboratories in universities and research institutes (2001)

As a complementary measure for the promotion of the 'core growth areas', some 40 laboratories for innovation and foundation were set up in universities and research institutes in the new Federal States, supported by a total of € 25.6 million. This measure aims to involve research institutes more closely in the innovation process in their region. While the institutes are increasing their focus on the economic viability of their research results, the infrastructure needed is often stretched to the limits of its capacity. BMBF measures were applied here to promote the purchase of additional equipment for the innovation and business foundation laboratories.

Interregional alliances for tomorrow's market

Innovation forums are a further element in the BMBF´s promotion of innovation. A total of 444 regional initiatives applied for support in the InnoRegio competition, thus revealing far more potential for innovation than the 23 InnoRegios could promote. For this reason, 24 initiatives were initially chosen in cooperation with the federal states and given the opportunity to create innovation forums. These forums are regional platforms and define areas of innovation in which the participants are expected to cooperate efficiently in the future. More information at: www.interregionale-allianzen.de (only available in German).

For more information, visit the InnoRegio-Website: http://www.innoregio.de

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