The kompetenznetze.de initiative has changed its name to Kompetenznetze Deutschland

“In order to be attractive as a centre of innovation, Germany must have strong and visible technology clusters.” This was the message of the Parliamentary Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), Dagmar Wöhrl, speaking to more than 250 representatives of business, science and politics who had attended the annual conference of Kompetenznetze Deutschland in Berlin on 9 and 10 November. The formation of networks and clusters is playing an increasingly important role in shaping economic and technological policies, Wöhrl continued. “The competitive ability of entire markets today depends on how well industry and science are able to close ranks at a regional level. Competence networks whose reputation extends beyond the confines of their own region create a better starting position for the companies and scientific establishments that belong to them. More and more regions have come to recognize that setting up clusters is the key to economic success.”

The Ministry of Economics is helping to encourage the formation of technology clusters in Germany through the initiative now called Kompetenznetze Deutschland, which however retains its Internet platform at www.kompetenznetze.de. The initiative unites the most productive innovation networks and clusters in Germany, 130 of them to date, and sponsors their further development. It provides its associated networks with numerous means through which to present themselves to potential investors and partners and to exchange information. It also helps them to set up co-operative ventures and to become established on international markets. Membership of Kompetenznetze Deutschland has meanwhile become established as a hallmark of quality.

Having taken over the initiative from the German Ministry of Education and Research last spring, the Ministry of Economics and Technology is setting new priorities. “To protect the high standard of quality of our membership, we have introduced definite criteria for the systematic evaluation of new and existing networks,” Wöhrl explains. The initiative also aims to establish a representative selection from all areas of industry and technology. Other key objectives of the initiative’s realignment are to become more closely linked with the international marketing of Germany as an industrial and business location and to increase value-add for the networks that form its membership. “The initiative has far more to offer than just an Internet platform,” says Wöhrl, “and this is why we have now renamed it Kompetenznetze Deutschland.”

More information can be found at: www.kompetenznetze.de

Contact person for the press:
Hans-Herbert Holzamer,
kompetenznetze.de c/o F.A.S.T. Gesellschaft für angewandte Softwaretechnologie mbH
Arabellastr. 17, D-81925 Munich,
Phone: +49/(0)89/89052-166 or 111, Fax: +49/(0)89/89052-222
E-Mail: info@kompetenznetze.de, www.kompetenznetze.de