2/11/2008

Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Emilia Müller, congratulates the 'Werkstoff-Innovationsnetz Nordbayern’ on winning the second prize in the “2008 Networks of Competence” competition

Müller: “’Werkstoff-Innovationsnetz Nordbayern’ is one of the best innovation networks in Germany”

MUNICH The ‘Werkstoff-Innovationsnetz Nordbayern’ (Materials Innovation Network of Northern Bavaria) has been awarded second prize in the nationwide “2008 Networks of Competence” competition for the best network service. The prize is conferred by the “Kompetenznetze Deutschland” (Competence Networks in Germany) initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Bavaria’s Economics Minister Müller congratulated the network on its success: “The award shows that the Werkstoff-Innovationsnetz Nordbayern ranks among the best innovation networks in Germany.”

Minister Müller also saw the prize as further confirmation of the Bavarian State Government’s cluster policy. “The prize-winning project is clear proof of how important it is for different partners to be brought together and to cooperate with each other,” the Minister continued. The Werkstoff-Innovationsnetz Nordbayern belongs to the ‘New Materials Bavaria’ cluster and is a cooperation project between the ‘Verein Kunststoffnetzwerk Franken e.V.’ (Plastics Network of Franconia) and the Center of Excellence for New Materials in Northern Bavaria.

The prize was awarded for a three-year project to develop a qualification concept for skilled workers in the plastics industry. The aim of the advanced training will be to communicate to employees an understanding of the value-added process both in the company and beyond company level. “The newly developed qualification concept will make a major contribution towards reducing efficiency losses occurring at the internal and external interfaces,” Minister Müller explained. The Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs has been intensively following the excellent project right from the start. The practice-oriented project receives scientific support from the ‘Research Center for Applied Economic Research with the Focus on SMEs’ (BFM) at Bayreuth University.

Source: Invest in Bavaria