Zuse Association welcomes commitment to innovation and transfer in the coalition agreement

Source: Press release of the Zuse Association of April 10, 2025. The NMI is a member of the Zuse Association.

Berlin. The German Industrial Research Association Konrad Zuse e.V. (Zuse Association) welcomes the commitment of the CDU, CSU and SPD to innovation- and transfer-oriented industrial research in the coalition agreement. It sees the anchoring of the INNO-KOM, ZIM and IGF programs as an important signal to SMEs and their research partners to strengthen and increase innovation and transfer activities in Germany. The association also sees it as positive that the future coalition is striving for new regulations on the prohibition of better employment in order to no longer structurally disadvantage practice-oriented research institutions in the competition for qualified personnel.

At the same time, the Zuse Association points out that innovation-oriented funding programs have been underfunded for years and encourages the incoming federal government to take decisive countermeasures: According to the association's calculations, ZIM, IGF and INNO-KOM must be endowed with at least one billion euros per year. In addition, a continuous annual increase of 10 percent is needed to ensure the sustainable transfer of knowledge to SMEs and to strengthen innovative power both regionally and nationwide.

Full press release of the Zuse Association (in German)