Background

In view of increasing shortages in primary resources and increasingly volatile prices on the markets for raw materials, the German government is pursuing the aim of doubling the energy and resource productivity of German industry by 2020 compared with 1994 in its national sustainability strategy. Numerous technical innovations are required to meet the challenges involved here. To support these aims, the BMBF has launched the national research funding programme "Innovative Technologies for Resource Efficiency – Resource-Intensive Production Processes". This funding priority is part of the High-Tech Strategy of the federal government, which intends to strengthen the innovativeness and competitiveness of German industry with regard to its resource efficiency in resource-intensive industrial branches. Alongside the projects to develop technologies, an integration and transfer project headed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research was also initiated to facilitate networking activities and conduct accompanying research.

Objective:

This integration and transfer project intensifies the innovativeness of the sponsored project consortia by linking them with each other and their environments. The integration and transfer project augments the research benefits drawn by each joint project by transferring information, working on issues which cut across sectors and technologies and providing additional research services. At the same time, the BMBF is supported in further developing the funding programme.

Work plan:

The integration and transfer project is structured in three parts:

Part 1: Linking the joint projects in a network
Part 2: Professional support of the joint projects 
Part 3: Professional support of the BMBF

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