Pre-competitive research for SMEs

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In order to hold their own in the international competition for innovation, small and medium-sized companies need to have (access to) research facilities whose R&D efforts are tailored to the needs of SMEs and whose findings can be quickly and efficiently transferred and marketed. This is the central goal of the support provided by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology to its collective research programme ("Industrielle Gemeinschaftsforschung") and to non-profit industrial research centres in eastern Germany.