German Research System Research Articles

Leading the Way, Setting the Pace

AbstractDFG Collaborative Research Centres are celebrating their 50th anniversary. How have they stimulated new directions in the German research system, and how will they continue to do so? A look back at the future

Assessing the effects of the German Excellence Initiative with bibliometric methods

The German Excellence Initiative started in 2006 as a public funding program of crucial importance for German universities. Since this time, several studies on different aspects of the program have been conducted, but there have been no analyses using bibliometric methods to measure the direct effects of funding--which is apparently due to the fact that publications resulting from the funding program are not publicly and comprehensively documented. This paper uses the concept of highly cited publications to measure excellent research, and explores two methodological approaches in order to attribute highly cited publications to the Excellence Initiative. To this end, the paper focuses on publications produced by the clusters of excellence (CoEs). The clusters of excellence constitute only one of three funding lines, but receive 60 % of the total funding of the excellence program and form the core research units of the Excellence Initiative. The highly cited publications of the CoEs are identified via self-selected lists of publications in the CoE renewal proposals and via a funding acknowledgement analysis. The validity of both data sources is analyzed comparatively. Based on the objectives of the Excellence Initiative, its effects on the level of funded clusters, universities and the overall German research system are explored. The bibliometric analysis gives evidence that the funding program has succeeded in concentrating excellent research and fostering collaborations between universities and the non-university research sector, but has not caused massive changes to the overall German research system.

The Heart of Research

AbstractThere is a danger that the debate regarding the future of the German research system will be reduced to the level of organisational conflicts. More important, however, is to consider the main purpose of research and how it should be organised in order to make the system as productive as possible.

New forms of strategic research collaboration between firms and universities in the German research system

Due to the shorter life cycles of products and services, industrial research and development (R&D) has been carried out since the 1990s under the criterion of short-term utilisation. Since a few years, however, it can be observed that large enterprises in particular are trying to establish long-term oriented strategic R&D capacities in cooperation with universities. Based on role models like the university-industry research centres in the USA, centres of excellence or competence research centres, this paper focuses on recent developments in Germany in the field of new organisational modes of industrial-university research. It will analyse new public-private research partnerships between industry and universities in Germany and will address the question whether the new mode of collaboration between industry and universities will develop as a new element in the German research system.

Inequities in German research system

Inequities in German research system

Erratum: Inequities in German research system

Erratum: Inequities in German research system

Developments in new biotechnology firms in Germany

Germany now has a substantial number of new biotechnology firms, with the number steadily increasing. The institutional framework has been slow to develop for this novel form of company, but many are now emerging and will certainly play an important part in the dynamics of the system. At the same time, the science base in this area has gained considerably in breadth and quality. The essential questions that arise from these recent developments are: (i) what prevented these new biotechnology firms from growing earlier and what is the current situation? (ii) What changes have occurred which have stimulated this growth? (iii) How are biotechnology companies going to develop further and what are the implications for Germany's pharmaceutical industry and wider economy? A database for biotechnology firms in Germany was set up of which a subset was used to analyse the current state of development. The following conclusions were reached: (i) Germany now has a substantial number of new biotechnology firms and the numbers are steadily increasing. (ii) Their collaborations with and proximity to academic centres of excellence suggests they are well embedded in the German research system. However, their sectoral composition sets them apart from their American counterparts, with greater bias towards instrumentation and environmental biotechnology, both areas of German industrial strength. (iii) Since the mid-1980s there has been continuous, if slow, adaptation to the institutional framework supporting biotechnology. These changes have finally resulted in an effective network of industry, academic and government links and have helped to promote both an increasingly strong scientific performance and the development of new firms. The authors suggest that, although these developments do not conform to the Anglo-Saxon entrepreneurial model in which new firms effectively forge new industries, the German evolutionary approach to innovation may still be holding its ground.

National research systems and change: the reaction of the British and German research systems to the discovery of High-T c superconductors

This paper deals with a comparison of the reaction of the German and British research system to the discovery of High-Temperature Superconductors (HTS). The main differences in the formation of HTS policy is that the German scientific community was far more successful in achieving its objectives in the policy process than the British scientific community. The paper analyzes this difference using general policy process concepts like pluralism, corporatism, and policy networks analysis. The thesis is that together with a general change in the national policy style the science system in Britain shifted from a pressure pluralism network with interest domination to a state-directed network. Germany on the other hand exhibits a corporatist network structure in general as in science policy where interests are smoothly brought together and participate in the policy formation. This is shown for the particular case of the superconductivity networks in the two countries.

Environmental biotechnology

Germany now has a substantial number of new biotechnology firms, with the number steadily increasing. The institutional framework has been slow to develop for this novel form of company, but many are now emerging and will certainly play an important part in the dynamics of the system. At the same time, the science base in this area has gained considerably in breadth and quality. The essential questions that arise from these recent developments are: (i) what prevented these new biotechnology firms from growing earlier and what is the current situation? (ii) What changes have occurred which have stimulated this growth? (iii) How are biotechnology companies going to develop further and what are the implications for Germany's pharmaceutical industry and wider economy? A database for biotechnology firms in Germany was set up of which a subset was used to analyse the current state of development. The following conclusions were reached: (i) Germany now has a substantial number of new biotechnology firms and the numbers are steadily increasing. (ii) Their collaborations with and proximity to academic centres of excellence suggests they are well embedded in the German research system. However, their sectoral composition sets them apart from their American counterparts, with greater bias towards instrumentation and environmental biotechnology, both areas of German industrial strength. (iii) Since the mid-1980s there has been continuous, if slow, adaptation to the institutional framework supporting biotechnology. These changes have finally resulted in an effective network of industry, academic and government links and have helped to promote both an increasingly strong scientific performance and the development of new firms. The authors suggest that, although these developments do not conform to the Anglo-Saxon entrepreneurial model in which new firms effectively forge new industries, the German evolutionary approach to innovation may still be holding its ground.

The restructuring of the East German research system — a provisional appraisal

After German unification, the research system in East Germany was restructured along the lines of the West German model of organisation. The intention was to achieve comparable levels of productivity. Although the actual transfer of institutions has progressed quite well, it has not led to a fully integrated German science system. Extensive staff cuts in the East German research institutions are still continuing, and have rendered ineffective measures aimed at maintaining staff and integrating old personnel into the new structures. After the transformation of East German science, its integration still remains a major task.

Scientific associations in the German research system—Results of an empirical study

Within contemporary science, scientific associations have been found to fulfill at least four functions: a communicative function that furthers scientific communication within a discipline or subdiscipline; a profesional function that supports individual careers and represents the collective interests of the members within a discipline; a transfer function that provides a meeting place for scientists and societal users of research results; and a promotion function that advises research institutes and political institutions in science policy decisions. This empirical study investigates German scientific associations and shows how and to what degree they fulfill these functions. The results of the study indicate that the communicative and the transfer functions dominate.