08.12.2004
Research Roads Lead to Baden-Württemberg: The Land of IT and Media

High-tech region number one. The German Silicon Valley. These are just a few of the nomenclatures for Baden-Württemberg. However, in order to achieve this status – the educational infrastructure of the region has had to be organised into a system that can support industry. And supporting industry in a harsh global economic climate also means supporting a strong drive for competitive innovation. The first component in this sought-after system is providing a stable base of educational institutes. And the region does – the area actually hosts no less than 50 universities and colleges and over 100 research institutions covering the complete spectrum – from pure to industry-related research. A particular highlight of the region is the concentration of media and IT. The belt between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe offers students and researchers excellent conditions in the area of IT and software research. Indeed the figures prove it. Four years a decision was made by the State to further extend informatics and other related degree courses at institutes of higher education and universities of co-operative education in the region. This was an ambitious goal and needed extensive funds amounting to approx. 95 million Euro. The policy has worked with higher education institutes in the area continually achieving the top spots in nationwide academic rankings and currently attracting a grand total of 17,257 informatics students.

The interdisciplinary dialogue: The knowledge network
With the establishment of a stable foundation for research, the second component comes to play: The promotion of excellent brains and the networking of these talents is the key to achieving highly innovative results. The interdisciplinary approach involves the faculties working closely together on aspects of research. The University of Constance, for example, when working on the topic of Interactive Entertainment and computer games, involves the faculties of Media Science, Literature, Art Studies and Informatics. Specialists from these faculties can provide qualified input that would otherwise disregard vital aspects of the research.

Bridging Theory and Practice
Following the network of talents and their cooperation on research projects, the bridge between theory and practice is created. Automobile companies from the area are particularly able to profit from this system of bundling competence. Software-based solutions in the car are innovations of tomorrow. Indeed research centres such as DaimlerChrysler in Ulm, Porsche in Weissach and Bosch in Ulm already co-operate with universities in the development of efficient software solutions for the next generation of automobiles.

This bridging can especially be illustrated in the field of IT and media research - a major topic for the universities of the state. Each of the nine research universities in Baden-Württemberg have, for example, created their own informatics institute. And over a third of all institutes of higher education in the southwest of Germany deal with media-scientific research questions. The application-oriented research conducted by universities of applied sciences primarily exists because they have close connections to industry-oriented private research institutes in Baden-Württemberg. 97 of the 350 private Steinbeiss Institutes on business development work on IT and media-related research projects, often in close co-operation with the institutes of applied sciences. The Steinbeis transfer centre for software and system-technology in Oberkochen, for example, designs innovative software systems together with students from the faculty of Applied Informatics at the University of Applied Sciences Weingarten.

The industry-related research centres are the real drive behind growth for developments in innovative technologies in particular in the area of information and communication research. With the universities now offering international degree courses in the English language, the interest shown by international post-graduates is rising.

For more information, please contact:

vineeta.manglani@sympra.de