Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Economic Affairs Dr Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut announced the selection of twelve regional Digital Hubs on 20 July 2022. These submitted their project outlines as part of the competition launched on 24 March 2022 and are now entitled to submit a funding application to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism in the second stage of the selection process. The Ulm | Alb-Donau | Biberach Digitalisation Centre was also selected.
“The regional digital hubs offer companies, start-ups and research actors in the state helpful content support and infrastructure to bring digitisation projects to implementation. They serve as information, networking, testing and experimentation spaces. Through online formats, the regional digital hubs will also give digital knowledge transfer an even stronger boost,” said the minister.
As part of an initial funding call in July 2017, the Ministry of Economic Affairs had already funded the establishment of ten regional digital hubs with a total of around 10 million euros. Together with the three topic-specific de:hubs located in Baden-Württemberg, selected by the federal government and funded by the state, they form the powerful Digital Hub Network Baden-Württemberg. The regional digital hubs have established themselves as important contact points for the topic of digitisation in the regions. In a second round of funding, the existing regional digital hubs are to be given the opportunity for further development on the one hand, and new regional digital hubs are to be established on the other. Ten million euros are available for this purpose until the end of 2025.
“Digitalisation continues to be elementary for the future competitiveness of our economy. The use of digital technologies offers enormous potential for value creation. Within the framework of the second funding phase of the regional digital hubs, the topic of sustainability in particular will be even more in focus,” said the Minister.
The current funding competition comprises a two-stage selection process. In the first stage, a project outline had to be submitted to the Ministry of Economic Affairs by 10 May 2022. The evaluation of the submitted project outlines was carried out according to the criteria defined in the call for funding and the selected projects now have the opportunity to submit a full application.
The development prospects for children and young people in the Ulm Innovation Region are exceptionally good. Girls and boys are already involved with science and technology in kindergarten. Model projects ensure close interaction between kindergarten and primary school. The international school and the basketball boarding school at the Urspringschule in Schelklingen enable learning in an international environment. A large number of secondary schools provide practical preparation for studies and professional life. Educational networks enable the exchange of experience between the world of work and school.
With their wide range of subjects, Ulm University, Ulm University of Applied Sciences and Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences enjoy great popularity. This is proven by the constantly growing number of students. The good placements in university rankings certainly also contribute to this.
