Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Transfer Centres have been set up besides the existing centres, since the problems
of firms became more specific and complex. The main activities of all Steinbeis
Transfer Centres are general consultancy services, technology and marketing
consultancy, R&D, and further training (workshops, seminars, conferences). The
total staff of the Steinbeis Foundation increased from 830 in 1983 to 5,000 in 2011,
and the budget grew from DM 8.3 million to €134 million (B-W
2000
; STW
2012
). The Foundation is nearly able to pay itself (92 % of its income is earned by
own activities), although one has to keep in mind that the state of Baden-Würt-
temberg is paying the salaries of all professors at polytechnics. Although the
headquarters of all individual centres in Stuttgart are supposed to co-ordinate and
organise the system in order to realise a state-wide division of labour, the net-
working reality of the Steinbeis Foundation can be doubted, since the pressure to
earn revenue induces a great deal of rivalry between the individual centres.
Finally, the state governments have been supporting Gründer- und Techno-
logiezentren since the end of the 1980s. This can be considered as buildings, which
provide technology-oriented business start-ups with relatively inexpensive office
space including services, such as a secretary, meeting rooms, etc. There are now
about 41 of these centres in Baden-Württemberg and the latest centres have been
focusing on specific industries. There are for instance some software centres and
biotechnology parks (B-W
2000
). Furthermore, it is one of the few states in
Germany which set up a science city: the Ulm Science City or 'Wissenschaftsstadt
Ulm' was developed in 1985. Four organisations initiated the development of this
concept: the DaimlerChrysler concern, which wanted to extend links with science
and other large companies, the state government of Baden-Württemberg and the
city of Ulm, which wanted to boost the structurally weak region of Ost-Würt-
temberg and the University of Ulm, which wanted to extend its science part. The
whole Ulm Science City complex comprises four components. First, the university
and polytechnic created new research subjects with a high industrial applicability,
such as electrical engineering, computer science, energy technology, medical
engineering, life sciences, information and communication technology, bio and
nano materials. Second, the Daimler-Benz concern wants to concentrate nearly all
basic research departments of its divisions into one research centre in the Ulm
Science City. The main research fields of this centre are information technology,
energy technology, material and production technology and technology assess-
ment. Third, several 'An'-institutes were set up on the site of the science city.
These mixed public-private funded research institutes are meant to bridge the
university-industry gap. Fourth, a science park on the campus attracted small,
technology-orientated firms and spin-offs.
All in all, the Baden-Württemberg regional innovation support system can be
considered as between a grassroots and network type of system, with a relatively
strong leeway for regionally supporting and steering the system. Both the only real
technopole, Ulm Science City, as well as many smaller incubator centres are
relatively strongly embedded in the regional innovation support systems, which is
characterised by long-term stability.
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