The Saxon State Ministry of Science and the Arts hosted the "Discover Researchers!" discussion for the fourth time. In previous years, this format was held in Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig. "This year, we deliberately chose a location that is not one of the immediate centres of science in the Free State of Saxony, because small and medium-sized companies from the Ore Mountains, the Leipzig region or Upper Lusatia, for example, have to be particularly creative to find a partner from the world of science. We want to use examples of good practice to show how successful this co-operation can be. We want to encourage all companies to engage even more intensively with research and development in the future," explained Sabine von Schorlemer, Saxony's Minister of State for Science and the Arts, in front of around 60 representatives from science, business, administration and politics who had gathered in the former flower hall of the State Garden Show site in Löbau.
Three keynote speeches from the region explained how joint projects with science can strengthen the innovative power of small and medium-sized companies. Entrepreneurs, including Anne-Christin Eule, who is the fourth generation to run the Eule organ building business in Bautzen, agreed that this has a direct impact on economic success.
"The direct correlation between innovation intensity and economic success applies not only on a microeconomic scale, i.e. for the individual company, but also on a macroeconomic level. This means that the competitiveness of Saxony, Germany and Europe depends on our innovative strength. The more knowledge-intensive we are overall, the better off we all are," stated the Saxon Minister of State, who is also responsible for technology policy.
State and business expenditure on research and development in the Free State of Saxony recently totalled 2.88% of gross domestic product. Saxony is therefore not only well on the way to achieving the "3% target" set by the European Union, but is even just above the national average and in fifth place behind Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Bavaria and Hesse. The Dresden region is still well above Saxony's already respectable average.Saxon university professors are also very successful. In 2010, their average third-party funding income of 360,000 euros was almost 100,000 euros above the national average. This is not only a sensational first place. It also shows the high level at which technology transfer is already taking place and how much the scientific excellence of Saxon universities is in demand in industry. However, only just under a quarter of the commercial third-party funding received by Saxon universities comes from the local economy. This is why the Saxon Ministry of Science is promoting cooperation between Saxon companies and science in the field of research and development with the innovation premium, technology transfer funding and R&D joint project funding, among other things.
In addition to Sabine von Schorlemer, the President of the Dresden Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Günter Bruntsch, as well as Michael Kretschmer (Member of the German Bundestag) and Dr Stephan Meyer (Member of the Saxon State Parliament) also took part in the evening's panel discussion. The Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Applied Sciences in Zittau/Görlitz, Professor Tobias Zschunke, represented the scientific community.
In conclusion, Science Minister von Schorlemer emphasised that Saxony is well on the way to becoming one of the leading scientific and economic regions in Europe within the next seven years. "But if you want to be an international leader, you must not only want to lead, you must also be international. A sustainably successful development of science and business is only conceivable in an environment characterised by tolerance and internationality," she said. Every individual must and can stand up for this.
