Regional Innovation Support Systems and Technopoles - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 52

partners. The InnoRegio contest promotes regional innovation strategies in a broad
sense in the new Länder of Germany. These three contests mark a ''change of
paradigm in the Germany technology and innovation policy'', as national tech-
nology policy for the first time regards the region as a relevant platform of support
programmes (Koschatzky 2000 , 21). In order to participate in these contests,
regions need to have co-ordinative power and abilities to submit a sound proposal.
These contests can lead to increasing regional inequalities, as only those regions
that have both the demand for these innovation policies and the co-ordinative
power can benefit from these programmes.
The High-Tech Strategy for Germany, adopted in August 2006, is one of the
latest national innovation strategies that consolidates and further develops existing
scientific-technical competences of Germany. The High-Tech Strategy consists of
five fields: health/nutrition, climate/energy, mobility, communication and security.
The Federal Government's funding of the High-Tech Strategy for Germany pro-
vided €291 million along with 13 private investors in 2011 (BMBF 2012 ).
The economy of Baden-Württemberg, which has about 10 million inhabitants
and is the most south-western of the old Länder in western Germany, has long
been considered to be one of the most prosperous of Germany and even of Western
Europe. Unemployment rates have been the lowest in Germany since the early
1970s. In the year of 2009, Baden-Württemberg had one of the lowest unem-
ployment rates (5.1 %, End of 2009) of any Länder in Germany. Also other
indicators, such as export rates (42.5 % in 2010), the gross domestic product (€362
Mio. in 2010), the development of the number of employees (5.3 million in 2007),
economic growth and, the proportion of R&D expenditure in relation to GDP
(4.8 % in 2009) confess the stable and strong economic position in the hierarchy of
regions in Germany.
Industrial policy has a long tradition in Baden-Württemberg. Ferdinand von
Steinbeis already supported many small craft firms in Württemberg with regard to
technological knowledge, export and training in the nineteenth century, whereas
Heinrich Meidinger was active in these fields in Baden at the same time. Also,
since the mid-1970s policymakers in Baden-Württemberg have been active and
innovative with regard to technology policies. Baden-Württemberg developed its
own technology programme in 1976 as the first state of West Germany. Embedded
in the framework of the federal and European technology policy, Baden-Würt-
temberg's technology policy measures are developed in fields in which organi-
sational and spatial proximity are essential. Therefore, the support of SMEs and
technology transfer are of main importance (Sturm 2002 ).
Since 1987, technology policy in Baden-Württemberg, on which Lothar Späth,
prime minister from 1978 until 1991, had large impact, has always been based on
four features: supporting the public research infrastructure, technology transfer,
technological aid schemes focused on individual firms and technology centres and
business start-up support. The government of Baden-Württemberg declared tech-
nology transfer as the core area of its technology policy. Technology transfer is
seen as of paramount importance, as the economy of Baden-Württemberg is
dependent on the diffusion of incentives from core technologies rather than on