May 15, 2009
Bavaria is among the Länder with the best overall conditions for innovation. According to the analysis on the Länder published on March 30 2009 by the Bertelsmann Foundation, Bavaria finds itself, together with Baden-Würtemberg and Hessen, in the Top Three followed by the City-States of Bremen, Hamburg and Berlin. Minister-President Horst Seehofer appeared happy over the State of Bavaria's top position and announced that Bavaria would continue to increase its efforts in this field.
Project Manager Eric Thode underlined during the presentation of the study that: "The overall conditions for research, development and entrepreneurship are crucial for social progress."In their innovative efforts the Länder laid an important cornerstone for future growth and employment and thus for prosperity, said Mr. Thode.
According to the study, Schleswig-Holstein, Saarland, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern occupy the last position within this rating. "However the study shows that no Länder constantly offered good or bad value in every sector of the innovative processes. Hence every Länder fundamentally has room for improvement" commented Mr. Thode.
According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, the five most important factors which guarantee the success of the innovation system are: the financial and personal organization of the the public research system, as well as the organization of the private enterprise research and development in enterprises; the number of medium and large enterprises, the dosage in bureaucracy and the organization of administrative processes, and finally a research and economic structure which is geografically balanced as well as spread over a wide range of industries.
In this study, Seehofer evaluated the top positioning of Bavaria as a "reward for the hard work of the high-tech enterprises as well as of the universities and research institutes". Innovation, hightech and high investments in the education are the supporting pillars of Bavarian politics for growth, employment and prosperity according to the Minister-President.
"In times of crisis more than ever, we need to focus on this", underlined the Minister-President. Whoever invests in new ideas and innovation progress, will acquire crucial competitive advantages which will contribute to growth. For this reason Bavaria will consequently maintain its course on innovation and modernization of the economic fundamentals." Seehofer announced that the State of Bavaria would again increase significantly its investments in research, technology and universities over the coming years.
Source: DDP- Deutsche Depeschendienst