BMBF funding measure ‘Modern China Research’

Cooperation with the People's Republic of China offers opportunities and challenges for Germany and the world, which must be evaluated on the basis of evidence based knowledge and understanding. The broader the knowledge of many individual aspects of the innovation system and the social framework conditions, the more likely it is that cooperation with China will succeed on an equal footing and for mutual added value.

With the funding announcement ‘Research on current social, societal, economic and innovation policy developments in the People's Republic of China’, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims to expand expertise on China. In particular, it aims to increase understanding of the diverse and complex interrelationships and chains of effects in China and their significance for Germany and Europe. For this reason, the BMBF is funding research projects on issues relating to recent developments and the current social and innovation policy situation in the People's Republic of China that are relevant to Germany and Europe. Networking with European China experts and cooperation with Chinese actors is explicitly desired.

The number of people with China expertise will be increased in particular through the targeted promotion of young scientist, but also through the transfer of the new knowledge toa broader group of people beyong the project participants. The projects are intended to demonstrate implementation possibilities of the research results in politics, society and the economy.

The funding measure is carried out within the framework of the Federal Government's strategy for the internationalisation of science and research as well as the BMBF's action plan ‘International Cooperation’ and is intended to create parts of the basis for an evidence-based research and innovation policy towards and in cooperation with China. In addition, the funding measure takes up the corresponding recommendation for action from the EFI Report 2020 (page 71: ‘Research and teaching that contribute to the understanding of current political, social and economic developments in China should be strengthened).’

Funded Projects

The announcement ‘Research on current social, economic and innovation policy developments in the People's Republic of China’ evoked a great resonance: the responsible project management agency received 79 proposals. Of these, a total of 13 were selected to receive funding. The subject areas covered by the projects include innovation policy, corporate policy, education / universities, infrastructure, scientific freedom, digital transformation (in schools, agriculture, drug supply) and chemical recycling. This ensures a broad spread of topics covered in the projects. The participation of universities, technical universities and research institutes, also ensures a variety of perspectives on the topics.

Chikubig – Hannover/Greifswald Chikubig – Hannover/Greifswald Chikubig – Hannover/Greifswald Chikubig – Hannover/Greifswald Chikubig – Hannover/Greifswald CHINNOCOM – Mannheim/Hohenheim ChiP-NI – Osnabrück ChiP-NI – Osnabrück CRC3-Economy – Freiberg CRC3-Economy – Freiberg DITAC – Halle (Saale) DITAC – Halle (Saale) D-TraC – Braunschweig EUcU_FE – Frankfurt/Bremen EUcU_FE – Frankfurt/Bremen EUcU_FE – Frankfurt/Bremen Scoring – Lüneburg/Witten Scoring – Lüneburg/Witten Scoring – Lüneburg/Witten Sino-Inno-Cap – Aschaffenburg/Frankfurt TCM – Aachen TCM – Aachen UIIChina – Duisburg/Bochum/Berlin UIIChina – Duisburg/Bochum/Berlin UIIChina – Duisburg/Bochum/Berlin UIIChina – Duisburg/Bochum/Berlin WFCXI – Erlangen/Berlin WFCXI – Erlangen/Berlin WFCXI – Erlangen/Berlin WIKOOP-INFRA – Hamburg Map of Germany with joint projects on modern China research. All listed projects are portrayed below. The map does not contain any information that is not also available in text format.
© map: www.statistikportal.de / David Liuzzo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED | modifications: DLR

Projects (in alphabetical order of the acronym)