Research Buildings and Large Research Facilities

The Federal Government is currently providing funds of €213 million per year for research buildings at institutions of higher education; funding of €85 million per year is being provided for large research facilities at institutions of higher education. The Land which plans and operates the research building or large research facility matches the funding provided by the Federal Government.

Furthermore, the Länder are receiving €695.3 million per year up to 31 December 2013 as compensation for the termination of the University Construction Act on 31 December 2006. The Länder themselves are responsible for providing for the use of this funding for university buildings.

All in all, the Federal Government is providing €993.3 million per year for research buildings, large research facilities and compensation under this set of measures. This means that approximately €7 billion have been made available for the institutions of higher education between 2007 and 2013.

Research buildings

The funding of a project as a research building is subject to strict criteria as stated in the "Guidelines for assessing research buildings" (Leitfaden zur Begutachtung von Forschungsbauten).
The precondition is that the building should predominantly serve research, that its work should distinguish itself through outstanding scientific quality, that the research should be of supra-regional significance and that the investment costs should exceed €5 million.

The funding itself is granted irrespective of the research topic and also covers fitting the research buildings with large research equipment.

Further details can be found in the "Implementing Agreement" (Ausführungsvereinbarung), the so-called AV-FuG.

Special criteria apply to the funding of high-performance computers (Hochleistungsrechnern).

The procedure for funding research buildings

Interested universities send their outline proposals to the responsible Ministry of their Land government. State institutions of higher education and non-state accredited institutions of higher education are eligible to apply for funding.
The Länder governments present the applications to the Federal Government and the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat). The German Council of Science and Humanities assesses the applications and presents its recommendations for funding (Förderempfehlungen) to the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschafts-Konferenz - GWK) for a decision.

A total of 91 research building projects at universities were included in the funding between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2012.

Large research facilities

Funding can be granted for large research facilities if

1. they primarily serve the purposes of research and
2. the procurement costs (including accessories) do not exceed €200,000 (€100,000 at universities of applied sciences).

Funding for large research facilities is provided by the German Research Association (DFG), which receives special funding for this purpose. State institutions of higher education and non-state accredited institutions of higher education are eligible to apply for funding. Funding for large research facilities is also provided on a matching basis by the Federal Government and the respective Land in which the institution of higher education is located.

The Joint Science Conference (GWK) decides on the funding of particularly expensive large research facilities (over €5 million) on the basis of recommendations from the German Council of Science and Humanities.