At the end of November, the German Bundestag discussed the draft federal budget for 2020 and the related financial plan up to 2023. In 2020 alone, investment expenditure of around 42.9 billion euros is planned - an increase of around 10 percent compared to 2019. The record investments are intended to benefit education and research in Germany, to prepare the country in the best possible way for the digital revolution and the transformation of the energy and mobility systems through targeted structural funding and expansion of the infrastructure as well as far-reaching measures for climate protection.

An increase in funding of Industrial Collective Research (Industrielle Gemeinschaftsforschung - IGF) has also been fixed: in 2020 a total of 180 million euros will be available for the IGF. Over the last three years, the corresponding budget has remained constant at 169 million euros per year.

Germany's competitiveness would not be as good as it is without a strong science and innovation network. Basic and application-oriented pre-competitive research at universities and non-university scientific institutions is just as essential as research and development activities in companies. This increase in funding is therefore an appreciated step in the right direction for the IGF.

The AiF, its industrial research associations and their members will continue to jointly promote IGF research priorities and to lobby for an even better financial endowment of the funding instrument in the future. For example, a parliamentary breakfast organised by the AiF will be held in Berlin on 12 February 2020. This time with members of the parliamentary group of the Christian Social Union (CSU) on the topic of "Transport | Climate Protection | Sustainability". Dietmar Goericke, Managing Director of FVV, will participate and present the results of a new FVV meta study on the topic of "CtG Life Cycle Analysis of Different Powertrain Systems".