The north-west of Germany offers with the TZI (Technologie-Zentrum Informatik) in Bremen and the OFFIS (Institut für Informatik) in Oldenburg in immediate vicinity two research institutes for information and communication technology (ICT) of high national and international reputation. In the last two years both institutes realized that a closer co-operation could be a major contribution to the prominence of the north-west region as an ICT-cluster. Therefore the joint association OFFIS-TZI was established.

The institutions involved maintain their own identity and form of organization with OFFIS-TZI being the strategic brace that synergetically leads them towards common goals. With altogether more than 390 staff members OFFIS-TZI is the biggest ICT-research organization in a German region. The general conditions for this increased co-operation are favorable: The establishment of the Bremen Oldenburg Metropolitan Region clearly documents the political will of both locations to collaborate. Several important businesses, amongst others energy trading companies and regional banks, took big steps towards activities across the locations Oldenburg and Bremen. The Bremen and Oldenburg Chambers of Commerce support the intensified collaboration, and so do politics and public authorities. The serious and profound cooperation between OFFIS and TZI within a joint organization therefore largely contributes to the realization of the Metropolitan Region.

Parallel to the described institutional, economic and political conditions, there is also an increasing demand and need for the collaboration across institutes regarding research on national and international level. The perception of, for instance, the Fraunhofer-Verbund at the BMBF and the BMWi and across Europe is considerably more distinct, than the perception of the „medium-sized research institutes“, such as the TZI or the OFFIS. Also the European Union has been focusing more and more on funding bigger associations, a tendency which can be observed regarding both regional funding and research funding. European funding instruments have become significantly more complicated and make demands which can only be met with much effort and high risk by individual institutes.

Therefore existing synergy potentials have to be used more forcefully and strategies for the positioning on European level have to be jointly put into action. Preparing an integrated project for a EU-funding represents a business risk which may push the boundary of an individual institute. Besides the improved conspicuousness, the OFFIS-TZI e.V. pursues a structuring effect on the region. The plan is to bring existing ICT competences and end users closer together on a strategic level, in order to be able to transfer innovative information technologies more efficiently into new products and services.

First joint project initiatives have already been set about and we are confident that this fruitful collaboration will lead to numerous joint projects and to great sustainability in this region in the near future.

OFFIS-TZI

Telefon 0700 / OFFISTZI
(0700 / 633 478 94)

info(at)offis-tzi.eu

Branch office Oldenburg
Escherweg 2
26121 Oldenburg
Telefon +49 441 9722-0
Fax +49 441 9722-102

Branch office Bremen
Am Fallturm 1
28359 Bremen
Telefon +49 421 218-7272
Fax + 49 421 218-7820