Expertise regarding the question of whether the financial research and development support granted to nonprofit external industrial research institutions in eastern Germany – Innovationskompetenz Ost (INNO-KOM-Ost) – should be extended to the GRW regions in the western part of Germany (BMWi)

Within the scope of this expertise, the arguments pro and contra an extension of the INNO-KOM-Ost program to the Scheme for the Improvement of Region-al Economic Structures (GRW) in the Western German Bundesländer were identified and weighed against each other.

The following questions were addressed:

  • What are the objectives of the structural policy focused GRW scheme, and to what extent can they be reconciled with the objectives of the INNO-KOM-Ost funding, which is primarily innovation policy focused?
  • What impact has the INNO-KOM-Ost funding had in the “Neue Länder”, and what impact might it have in the target regions in former West Germany?
  • To what extent has this measure borne fruit?

Commissioned by: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)

Team: Dr. Harald Lehmann, Anna Pohle

Duration: February 2016 to March 2016