The plan is to hold three rounds of competition some eighteen months apart. In each round of the competition, up to EUR 200 million will be made available to up to five excellence clusters over a period no longer than five years. The implementation envisages a matching level of financial participation on the part of businesses and private investors.
The funding of excellence clusters is based on a common strategy that starts from the respective strengths of each cluster and is aimed at the definition of future development objectives. This supposes involvement of the entire innovation chain, right from the idea through to its commercial exploitation.
In September 2008, the five winners of the first round of competition were selected by the independent jury. The five excellence clusters took particular account of the competition's underlying concept. This first round of competition has already created a terrific mood of optimism and enthusiasm. The BMBF launched the second round of competition in mid-January 2009. New applicants in particular, together with clusters that didn't make it through the first round, are preparing themselves intensively for the next round.

The excellence cluster competition

The emphasis is on innovative approaches to a long-term cluster strategy. Building on a coherent overall concept, research and development are expected to contribute to a reduced time-to-market for innovative products, processes and services. A maximum of EUR 200 million will be made available to up to five competition winners over a period of up to five years for the purpose of implementing ideas and concepts within their cluster.

The objective

A core element of the High-Tech Strategy for Germany is the building of bridges between science and business: to safeguard growth and employment, research results having innovation potential must be recognised and quickly and successfully brought to market. At the same time, research matters of relevance for the future must be formulated and solutions found. This requires close cooperation between the business and scientific communities.
Clusters in which companies, scientific institutions and policy-makers are all pulling in the same direction offer excellent conditions for this. Clusters can bring together a range of competences at an early stage. They offer a singular combination of factors for success:

• high-grade scientific and practical support for the next generation of scientists as well as attractive opportunities for teaching and continuing education

• long-term research strategies

• technological development with a market focus

• favourable conditions for startups

• strategic expansion of international collaborations

The concept

The plan is to hold three rounds of competition up to eighteen months apart. In each round of the competition, up to five clusters will be selected to receive a maximum of EUR 200 million of funding over a period of no more than five years. There is no restriction as to the topics: those applicants who come up with the best strategies for future markets - in their particular sector - will be selected.

Deadlines for the second round

The second round of the excellence cluster competition was launched on 14 January 2009. Cut-off dates for the second round can be found here.

The funding

The funding of excellence clusters is based on a common strategy that draws on the respective strengths of the clusters and aims to fully utilise so far unused potential. This requires that the entire innovation chain - from the idea to commercial exploitation - be taken into account. In selection of the strategies attention will be paid to both the development potential and the creativity and innovativeness of the approach, as well as to the development stage already achieved by the cluster.
Implementation of the strategy should be through appropriate projects run by the cluster partners, e.g. in the areas of research and development, support for young scientists and qualification levels, the winning of scientific and managerial capabilities and cluster management.

The criteria

The following criteria are decisive for funding:

• The cluster must possess the necessary critical mass, the necessary potential and high development dynamism.

• Implementation of the strategy involves significant financial participation by business and private investors. The planned projects build on the strengths of the cluster and lead to sustainable changes.

• The strategy enables the raising of innovative capacity, the development of unique selling points relevant to the competitive environment and the attainment or consolidation of a leading international position.

• The preconditions for implementation of the strategy are fulfilled. The cluster strategy is characterised by economic feasibility; instruments are available for ensuring sustainability following the end of funding.

The selection procedure for the first round

Selection of the excellence clusters in the first round was done in two stages:

1. In the first stage of the procedure, applicants had from the start of the competition on 28 August 2007 until 3 December 2007 to submit outlines. These outlines contained a brief presentation of the cluster together with strategic approaches to its further development. The BMBF supported the clusters by holding information events in all 16 Länder. Of the 38 applications initially submitted, 12 were selected for the final round by a high-level, independent jury on 10 March 2008.
2. In the second stage of the procedure, these 12 finalists were given until 5 June 2008 to submit a fully worked-out strategy together with concrete projects for its implementation. On 1 and 2 September 2008 the jury, now supplemented by specialists in the cluster finalists' fields of activity, made their decision on the winning clusters.
3. After two years or so, the strategy implementation by those clusters selected for funding will be assessed on the basis of a progress report. Based on this, the jury will make recommendations on a second funding phase in which the projects from the first phase can be continued and new projects started.

The 1st round winners

The winners in the first round of the BMBF's excellence cluster competition are:

• BioRN - Der Biotechnologie-Cluster Zellbasierte & Molekulare Medizin in der Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar

• Cool Silicon - Energy Efficiency Innovations from Silicon Saxony

• Forum Organic Electronics in der Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar

• Luftfahrtcluster Metropolregion Hamburg

• Solarvalley Mitteldeutschland

Source: Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)