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Knowledge transfer and expertise development

The transfer of civil security innovation to products and services that meet the needs of real-life practice and the market is influenced by a particular set of factors. A key strength of civil security solutions is that they are specifically geared to user requirements. At the same time, they give equal consideration to the requirements and limitations of civil society. After all, only innovations that combine economic success with social responsibility will ultimately lead to more security.

Feuerwehrleute und Drohne löschen brennendes Haus
© BMBF

With their wealth of research and technology expertise, civil security businesses play an important part in ensuring German and European security architecture is fit for the future. Small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, have a key role to play in ensuring a successful transition from research to practice. The security research programme helps create structures to enhance the innovative capacity of research-intensive businesses.  

Establishing centres of excellence, top-level research clusters and innovation labs is a further key step in aligning research activity even closer with the specific requirements of users. These measures aim to facilitate user-oriented top-level research and to promote research excellence through close cooperation between scientific institutions and users.

Approved projects in the field of “Civil security - Innovation labs/competence centres for robotic systems in hostile environments”

This call for proposals is intended to help pool the existing expertise on robotics and robot deployment in the area of civil security, advance the development of innovative system solutions that assist emergency personnel in hazardous activities, and minimise risks. Funding will be provided, through a competition, for up to three innovation labs/competence centres working on robot system deployment in hostile environments in specified areas.

Approved projects in the field "User innovation: Research for civil security"

To make sure the results generated by research cater for real-life needs as much as possible, projects funded through the security research programme involve users from the very start. The “User innovation: Research for civil security” call for proposals announced by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is intended to foster the innovation skills of users in Germany and the translation of research results into practice. The aim of this funding programme is to motivate users to play a more significant role in research and development projects and to collaborate with businesses and academic partners.

Approved projects in the field of “Civil security - Development of interdisciplinary expertise to support young researchers”

Civil security is a crucial aspect in ensuring quality of life and value creation in Germany, as well as being one of the action areas in the “New High Tech Strategy - Innovation for Germany”. For the interdisciplinary and very varied field of civil security research, excellently trained and well-networked young researchers are of fundamental importance.  The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has introduced a funding programme entitled “Civil security - Development of interdisciplinary expertise to support young researchers” with the aim of providing an opportunity for young researchers at German universities and research institutions to implement innovative research ideas, working very independently, with the potential to increase security for our society.

Approved joint projects funded through the "KMU-innovative" programm for innovative SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs or, in German, “KMUs”) are at the forefront of technological progress in many areas but they often have difficulty coping with the risks cutting-edge research entails. With this in mind, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) introduced the “KMU-innovativ” funding programme to promote high-risk R&D projects and thus foster SME innovation in Germany.