topic Academia

Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation

On 4 June 2009, the heads of the Federal Government and the Länder agreed to update the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation. The Initiative is designed to enable science organizations to continue and improve strategic measures, enhance the quality and quantity of existing instruments, and develop, test and establish new instruments.
The financial planning certainty provided by the Initiative is important for the strategic planning of science and research organizations:

• Hermann von Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres (HGF)
• Max Planck Society (MPG)
• Fraunhofer Society (FhG)
• Leibniz Science Association (Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Science Association, WGL), and
• the German Research Association (DFG) as research funding organization.

As early as autumn 2008, the Joint Science Conference agreed on research policy goals for the period between 2011 and 2015. This was an important basis for the continuation of the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation. Now, the heads of the Federal Government and the Länder have also reached an agreement on the financial framework of the Initiative: The Federal Government and the Länder will increase the funding of science organizations by 5 percent every year. In addition, special circumstances, such as new additions or changes in the form of funding, can result in additional funding.

By continuing the pact for research and innovation, the Federal Government and the Länder want to achieve the following research policy goals:

1. Trigger dynamic developments in the science system
2. Create dynamic and performance-enhancing networks in the science system
3. Develop and implement new international cooperation strategies
4. Establish sustainable partnerships between science and industry
5. Recruit the best and persuading them to stay in Germany long-term

Based on these research policy goals, the science and research organizations, as partners in the Joint Initiative, have issued their own declarations stating what measures they plan to take to achieve the goals and contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the German science system.

The declaration of the Joint Science Conference regarding the research policy goals, the decision of the heads of the Federal and the Länder governments regarding the financial framework, and the declarations of the science and research organizations together make up the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation.