The German Free State will invest around $2.5bn into the digital economy.
Bavaria has launched its Bayern Digital (Digital Bavaria) initiative, which will invest more than €1.7bn into the free state’s economy between now and 2018. Part of the money will be allocated to the creation of a new incubator and university research.
As part of the initiative, an incubator dedicated to IT and digital media will be created in the state’s capital of Munich, and receive funding of up to €100m ($137m) as well as support for an annual venture summit of entrepreneurs and investors. At the same time, the initiative will support the creation of a research cluster, built around university research and the three Fraunhofer Institutes located in the city. It is hoped that such a cluster will attract outside researchers, investors and innovative companies.
The state will also invest directly in university research, and allocate €30m ($41m) to projects in IT, big data and simulation science, with the aim of becoming a European leader in those fields. The initiative will further provide €50m ($69m) to advance IT training of faculties.
The launch event was attended by Claudia Eckert, board member at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security, Wolfgang Herrmann, president of Munich University of Technology, Friedrich Eichiner, board member at BMW, and the free state’s prime minister Horst Seehofer.
Horst Seehofer said: “Economic success is the result of hard work, cutting-edge scientific research as well as an optimal political and corporate framework. To achieve global excellence we need the right partnerships between public and private stakeholders.”
