Security research is one of the central fields of innovation within the comprehensive High-tech Strategy for Germany. The High-tech Strategy provides a platform for strategic cooperation bet¬ween business and administration, research and application. In January 2007, the German federal government concluded the “Research for Civil Security” programme. With this programme the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will provide funds amounting to 123 million euros over the next four years up to and including 2010.

In the preparation of the programme, it became clear that researchers and scientists in the area of security-related topics are not optimally networked either with each other or with the suppliers of security solutions and the users and operators with responsibility for security. The security programme tackles this deficit for the first time, by creating a framework in which industry, research facilities and universities can work together respectively with authorities, security and the operators of critical infrastructures.

In 2007, with the study Research for Civil Security – An Inventory: Research Landscape and Contacts produced by VDI Technologiezentrum GmbH the BMBF also provided an inventory of the civil security research in Germany. This first overview on the potential contributors to security research in Germany from industrial companies and scientific facilities served as a basis for the present “securityresearchmap”-internet platform.

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