MicroTEC Southwest with KIT as a partner is a technology cluster focusing on the use of microsystems technology in various sectors. The cluster based in Baden-Württemberg is aimed at linking research, industry, and in particular small and medium-sized enterprises and crossing the boundaries of branches. Microsystems technology is considered a key technology due to applications in automotive industry, medical engineering, mechanical engineering, and automation. The cluster of 320 partners among others includes the companies of Bosch and Roche as well as a number of universities and research institutions in Baden-Württemberg. On the part of KIT, the NanoMicro Center is involved. “We are very pleased that the numerous partners of the cluster have undertaken the effort and that microsystems technology in Baden-Württemberg will be made visible in an excellent manner,” underlines Professor Volker Saile, Head of the NANOMICRO Helmholtz program and of the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT) on KIT Campus North. More information can be found at www.microtec-suedwest.de.
The software cluster is considered the “Silicon Valley” of Europe and includes the centers of Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, Karlsruhe, Saarbrücken, and Walldorf. The only software cluster in Germany funded by BMBF is aimed at pushing technical and methodological research and development of software solutions for digital enterprises. The CyberForum network, Karlsruhe, coordinated the proposal for the region of northern Baden. Other partners of the software cluster are big German manufacturers of enterprise software, such as IDS Scheer AG, SAP AG, and Software AG, more than 350 small and medium-sized enterprises in the enterprise software branch, as well as research institutions in Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, and the Saarland.
"KIT participates in the software cluster due to its internationally excellent information science research and training under the KIT COMMputation Focus at the Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC) and the Karlsruhe Service Research Institute (KSRI). KIT research into cloud computing provides crucial inputs in entirely new forms of IT service offers which improve cost efficiency and accelerate innovation processes at enterprises,” says Professor Wilfried Juling, Director of the SCC. Further information on the software cluster can be found at www.software-cluster.com
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a public corporation and state institution of Baden-Württemberg. It fulfills the mission of a university and the mission of a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT pursues its tasks in the knowledge triangle of research, teaching, and innovation.