The excellent science base of the German research landscape makes a vital contribution both to knowledge gained through basic research and to the application and transfer of that knowledge. Alongside research infrastructures such as particle accelerators and telescopes, this science base includes data infrastructures and regulations regarding data access for science.
The Federation and the Länder support basic research, with the aim of securing scientific and technological progress over the long term. They do so by financing higher education institutions and non-university research institutions and by providing targeted project funding. The Exploration of the Universe and Matter (ErUM) programme provides a strategic framework for basic scientific research at large research facilities.
Germany runs many research infrastructure facilities itself and is involved in additional international and intergovernmental facilities. At national level, the national prioritisation process for large-scale research infrastructures lays the foundation for setting research policy priorities with regard to federal participation in new research infrastructures. The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), in which the Federal Government is closely involved, coordinates strategic planning for research infrastructures at European level. The importance of high-performance computing (HPC) is steadily growing within research infrastructures.
Alongside research infrastructures, a clear framework for data provision and use is of vital importance for the science base. To better unlock the potential that data holds for scientific progress, the Federal Government is working on a framework for the data economy that offers legal certainty. The Federal Government’s Data Strategy, which was updated in 2023, seeks to enhance responsible and sovereign data provision and use. A planned Research Data Act will make data held by the public sector, in particular, more accessible for researchers. Strong, sustainably designed data infrastructures are also essential for the emergence of data-driven innovations. The National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) is to systematically connect research data and make it accessible.
More detailed information can be found in Chapter 9 of the Federal Report (in German).