High-Tech Strategy for Germany

Launched in 2006, the "High-Tech Strategy for Germany" bundles together all of the German government's measures in the fields of innovation and technology policy. For the first time, all government activities and support measures aiming to improve the overall policy environment have been pooled to form a unified innovation and technology policy. The High-Tech Strategy is being continued during the current legislative period and has been updated and fine-tuned to cope with pressing new challenges.

Especially in difficult economic times, it is essential to implement policies that are geared toward research, technology and human creativity. For this reason, the German government has significantly expanded its funding and support programmes in these areas. The Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology - which provides roughly half the funding for the High-Tech Strategy - by itself allocated a total of € 2.3 billion euros for technology policy measures in 2010, or € 2.8 billion when stimulus package measures are included.

The new High-Tech Strategy 2020 aims to take effective policy action in five areas that possess particular urgency and social relevance: climate/energy, health/nutrition, mobility, security, and communications. In addition, the strategy points the way forward for key technologies such as production, materials and microsystems technologies; nanotechnology; information and communication technologies; aerospace technology; and biotechnology.

The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology are the two main ministries responsible for designing and implementing the High-Tech Strategy. The Economics Ministry's support is targeted toward specific fields of research and technology, including energy, aviation, space, the maritime sector, transport, and information and communication. In addition, non-technology-specific support is available for innovative small businesses and high-tech start-ups.

Furthermore, the Economics Ministry places a high priority on the creation of an innovative policy environment, for example through tax incentives for venture capital, a more innovation-oriented approach to public procurement, and the use of standards that can expedite the implementation and dissemination of German high-tech products on world markets.

In order to tap future-oriented lead markets, the German government has established strategic partnerships with industry and launched research projects that combine private and public funding.

In early 2009, the German government published the report "Research and Innovation in Germany", which provides an interim assessment of the High-Tech Strategy (available in German at www.bmbf.bund.de; 2,34 MB).

The government is committed to maintaining a consistent and determined policy approach in this key area.