High-Tech Spaces will be the Innovation Hubs of the Future

In Germany, we have excellent research institutions, innovative companies and strong technological expertise. At the same time, even high-performing innovation hubs face structural challenges, such as limited international visibility, difficult access to venture capital and complex regulatory frameworks. For example, bureaucratic hurdles at various levels or insufficient data exchange often slow down the innovation process.

With the High-Tech Spaces, we are launching a new key initiative of the High-Tech Agenda Germany (HTAD). It sends a forward-looking signal regarding innovation policy for Germany as a technology hub. The High-Tech Spaces are intended to complement the funding measures for specific technologies provided by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) through a cross-technological initiative. They specifically strengthen the international competitiveness of regional innovation ecosystems with particular potential for future value creation in Germany.

The High-Tech Spaces are consistently designed as a joint effort between government bodies and private actors. These stakeholders pool their resources to implement large-scale, high-profile flagship projects in locations with particular development potential. The High-Tech Spaces have an impact beyond their respective regions, strengthen new value chains and enhance international competitiveness.

At the same time, the High-Tech Spaces pursue a clear political agenda: as strategic innovation spaces, they actively improve innovation-friendly framework conditions, remove bureaucratic hurdles and play a key role in the practical design of regulatory processes. They develop solutions that can also be transferred to other sectors or locations. This creates dynamic innovation spaces with a flagship character. The initiative thus deliberately goes beyond the funding of individual projects and has a structure-shaping effect on high-performing innovation hubs.

The funding is designed to mobilise significant public and private investment and establish sustainable long-term partnerships. This requires substantial financial and political commitment from the federal states as well as the private stakeholders involved.

The initiative is structured in several stages and comprises three closely interlinked elements:

(1) the strategic preparation of a regional vision,

(2) the joint implementation of large-scale, profile-raising flagship projects as a strategic joint undertaking, and

(3) accompanying measures for the targeted further development and optimisation of innovation ecosystems, as well as for the removal of barriers to innovation.

The focus is on sustainable impact – both in economic and structural terms.

The BMFTR is providing at least 115 million euros over five years for this purpose; a further funding phase is planned for the future. A call for proposals is due to be published in summer 2026.

High-Tech Spaces are true innovation hubs of the future

• Networked innovation systems comprising science, business, start-ups, politics and administration
• Visible beacons with international appeal
• Drivers of technology transfer from research to marketable applications
• Real-world laboratories for future technologies, new business models and regulatory approaches
• Levers for investment through the targeted mobilisation of public and private funds
• Engines of regional value creation and the strengthening of national innovation capacity

Further information on High-Tech Spaces can be found here.