Berlin In their coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP make a clear commitment to research policy: “With a modern funding policy, we are ensuring a successful start to an innovative decade,” it says.
However, many non-profit institutions that conduct application-oriented research for medium-sized companies can see little of this awakening. On the contrary: They even see their very existence threatened by the government’s actions.
Because the so-called ban on better opportunities stands in their way when applying for funding and when recruiting scientists. It states that private-sector research institutions, which earn more than half of their income from public project funding, must not make their employees better off than comparable federal employees. The pay of the staff – including the management and top researchers – must not be higher than in the collective agreement for the public service.
The upper limit does not apply to non-university research institutions that are permanently funded by the federal government, such as the Helmholtz Centers or the Fraunhofer Societies, but it does apply to the around 130 mostly non-profit, private-sector industrial research institutes, a good half of which have joined together in the Zuse Association.
Zuse Managing Director Klaus Jansen warns that they have no planning security and are in danger of dying out because excellent researchers are looking for new jobs. “As a result, industrial research is going to the dogs – and that endangers jobs, the innovative ability of medium-sized businesses and their international competitiveness.”
Funding in the millions threatens to disappear
Many of the institutions concerned conduct research that is central to the transformation of industry or the climate and heating transition. An institute affiliated with the Zuse community has extrapolated that it will probably receive one million euros less funding than planned in the current year – with a budget of eight million euros. In the coming year, the losses could even amount to 3.3 million euros.
Such cuts can be life-threatening. However, the federal government has so far shown no willingness to deviate from the strict interpretation of the ban on preferential treatment.
Affected institutes report that they are asked by the project sponsors to submit the payrolls of their entire staff including the management with the funding applications, which is questionable for data protection reasons.
The Federal Ministry of Economics, which is responsible for project funding, points out that institutes can submit applications for exceptions to the Federal Ministry of Finance. However, its officials do not feel really responsible either, because the applications relate to departmental funds.
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“One gets the impression that everyone is throwing the hot potato over the fence at the other,” says Jansen. The end of the transition period is just around the corner. Originally, the institutes that applied for project funding were supposed to prove by the end of 2022 that they were complying with the ban on preferential treatment. This deadline has been extended by one year.
The Union and the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Saxony now want to end the uncertainty for the non-profit research institutions. The CDU/CSU parliamentary group passed a motion last week that it intends to bring to the Bundestag after the summer break.
Habeck cuts budget for industrial research
It calls on the federal government to formulate the Freedom of Science Act in such a way that, like the large Fraunhofer or Helmholtz institutes, non-profit research institutions are also exempted from the betterment requirement.
If the institutes apply for public funding, the federal government should only recognize the personnel costs up to the amount of the remuneration for the public service. However, the non-profit research institutions are free to pay higher remuneration for top researchers or managing directors from self-generated industrial funds.
Baden-Württemberg and Saxony are also campaigning for an amendment to the Freedom of Science Act in their own legislative initiative, which the Federal Council initially referred to the committees in its last session before the summer break. In autumn, the chamber of the federal states will then decide whether to forward the legislative proposal to the federal government.
In Habeck’s budget, funds for industrial research are reduced.
(Photo: dpa)
However, the non-profit research institutions not only suffer from the ban on better opportunities, but also from the cuts in the budget for industrial research, innovations and transfer in the federal budget.
According to the budget draft approved by the cabinet in the budget of Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), the funds for the Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM) are to be reduced by 10.5 percent to 626.6 million euros.
Read more about the ban on improvement
In addition, since 2022, only one application per company will be eligible for funding every 24 months. Previously, the rule was that two applications could be submitted within twelve months. The Federal Ministry of Economics wants to ensure that as many companies as possible can benefit from the limited funding.
But companies with several business areas or a continuous need for research have their hands tied. And the non-profit research institutes are losing clients.
Zuse has little understanding for the cut in the budget and the changed funding practice: “On the one hand, the government is focusing entirely on innovation and transfer in its future strategy, but on the other hand it is cutting the funds for innovation- and transfer-oriented, industry-related research,” says Managing Director Jansen. “This is not only a contradiction in terms, but a completely wrong signal.”
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