Stuttgart Region
Region and Regional RTD Policy
The Stuttgart Region comprises the City of Stuttgart (capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg) and the surrounding five counties with a total of 179 local authorities covering an area of 3,650 square kilometres. It is the hub of economic, scientific, and political life in Southwest Germany and the centre of a flourishing economy with its own elected assembly and administrative structure (Verband Region Stuttgart). The economic activities are based on: services (43,3%), commerce (13,2%), industry (37,7%), construction (5,2%) and agriculture (0,6%). The Stuttgart Region is home to many major global players, including: DaimlerChrysler, Porsche, Robert Bosch, IBM, HP and many highly successful medium-size companies (“hidden champions”): e.g. Kärcher, Dürr, Schuler, Eberspächer and Beru. In 2003 the regional economy generated a GDP of 88 billion Euro.
It is not by chance that Eurostat figures show the Stuttgart Region to be Europe's leading high technology area. Stuttgart Region has an excellent research infrastructure, including many leading universities and institutes working at the cutting edge of new technologies (e.g. Universities of Stuttgart and Hohenheim, to the international Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology, nine universities of applied sciences, several Fraunhofer and Max-Planck Gesellschaft research institutes). Enterprises here invest more in R&D than anywhere else in the country, accounting for 10 percent of total expenditure by German industry. The R&D expenditures by regional industry amount to more than 5 % of GDP, whereas 88% of total expenditures in R&D come from the private sector (figures for 2003). The R&D expenditures by high-tech companies have influenced the establishment of numerous research institutes. Start-ups and young technology-led businesses are grouped in close proximity at a number of technology parks and business incubation centres.
At the beginning of this century, Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (WRS) started supporting cluster management activities in order to foster innovation and economic development within the region by establishing Regional Competence and Innovation Centres. These integrated networks include 18 municipalities, more than 350 of its companies (mostly SMEs), and nearly 60 university institutes and research facilities. Currently 14 centres are focusing on well-defined fields - from fuel cell technologies to customer care and from internet-based services to solar power. The main objectives of these Regional Competence and Innovation Centres are to provide assistance and advice on market entry, to network regional expertise and innovation by organising dialogues even between competitors and to stimulate collaborative projects.
Further information: www.region-stuttgart.de; www.rekiz.de
Stuttgart Region Pilot Cluster: Virtual Engineering
The Virtual Dimension Center (VDC) is the relevant network organisation for the region's virtual engineering cluster. The VDC network, institutionalised in 2003 as a commercial association, aims to spread the use of SME-compatible solutions for virtual product development ranging from digital mock-up, crash and flow simulations to collaborative engineering. Main objectives are to advise SMEs in using Virtual Reality (VR) and Collaborative Engineering (CE) technologies, to initiate the development of suitable solutions and to improve the co-operation of regional science, education and economy players in the field of VR and CE. The VDC is part of the Stuttgart Region Competence and Innovation Centre Program. Members of the VDC are working in all areas of technology, from high innovative software and IT companies to engineering service providers and OEMs like Porsche AG, which is very interested in spreading the use of VR/CE technologies to its smaller SME suppliers. The VDC has built a strong network of enterprises, research institutes, universities and other governmental institutions. Key players are: Porsche, Stihl, HP, SGI, Barco, Fraunhofer Institutes for Industrial Engineering (IAO) and for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA), the Universities of Stuttgart and Cologne. The VDC is supported by the City of Fellbach and the Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation (WRS GmbH) and serves as a node in the network. At the VDC office in Fellbach next to Stuttgart a wide range of technical equipment for VR and CE application is jointly provided for simulation and engineering projects of network members and guests as well as for training activities.
Further information: www.vdc-fellbach.de