Almost all of the contract research is done for public projects, often in joint-ventures with companies. That way, most of the funding comes from public sources.
Could you please explain that further? Looking at this document, page 13, it says that almost 50% of the proceeds from contract research is from economic sources (“Wirtschaftserträge”), and only 41 percent of the contract research money comes from public sources (“EU” and “Bund/Länder”). If my reading is correct, then it would be misleading to say that “almost all” of the research is done for public projects. Or does the category “Wirtschaftserträge” also contain public projects somehow?
Yes, about 30-35% of the total funding comes from private companies. However, these are often not direct research contracts (Company pays Fraunhofer to develop x) but publicly funded projects in which Fraunhofer works together with private companies (notably KMUinnovativ for example). But this assumption is based on my observation in different teams/institutes. I could be wrong.
Could you please explain that further? Looking at this document, page 13, it says that almost 50% of the proceeds from contract research is from economic sources (“Wirtschaftserträge”), and only 41 percent of the contract research money comes from public sources (“EU” and “Bund/Länder”). If my reading is correct, then it would be misleading to say that “almost all” of the research is done for public projects. Or does the category “Wirtschaftserträge” also contain public projects somehow?
https://www.bundestag.de/resource/blob/365560/21b0bb5898655935c70791e438c95e2c/Stellungnahme_FG-data.pdf
Yes, about 30-35% of the total funding comes from private companies. However, these are often not direct research contracts (Company pays Fraunhofer to develop x) but publicly funded projects in which Fraunhofer works together with private companies (notably KMUinnovativ for example). But this assumption is based on my observation in different teams/institutes. I could be wrong.