What will tomorrow’s energy-efficient and climate-friendly cities look like? What opportunities can Internet-based services offer industry? How can we continue to lead independent lives into old age? The Federal Government has now formulated fundamental goals in ten forward-looking projects of this kind to provide answers to the social and global challenges. ???aural:Bildanfang??????Großansicht des Bildes???High-tech for a mobile future: German scientists are conducting research into environmentally friendly vehicle designs. © DLR???aural:Bildende???The result is a new action plan that concretises Germany’s High-Tech Strategy.

With these ten projects for the future, the Federal Government is also consolidating the innovation policy of all participating federal ministries as well as research and development work in science and industry in the areas of climate/energy, health/nutrition, mobility, communication and security. A total of up to 8.4 billion euro has been planned for these projects until 2015. This funding will be used to support concrete measures, for example, for an energy revolution in cities – ranging from mobility, energy-efficient housing and the energy supply system to factories and jobs. When it comes to health, subjects such as healthy eating and individualised medicine will be playing an important role.

In industry, the action plan will primarily focus on new intelligent production methods and future human-machine interaction. Federal Research Minister Professor Dr. Annette Schavan spoke of a significant strategic decision: “The action plan is an important milestone to implementing the High-Tech Strategy.”