Funding for Major Instrumentation
Developments from 2007 to 2017
Scientific instrumentation is an essential precondition for universities for a great many disciplines in order to fulfil their manifold responsibilities in research, teaching and patient care. As far as investment is concerned, federal and state governments have contributed to the procurement of major instrumentation since the 1970s on the basis of the shared responsibility set out by the University Construction Act (HBFG).
The reform of the federal system in 2006 and the ensuing end of the University Construction Act saw the rearrangement of major instrumentation programmes for universities. They were devised as a result of Articles 91b and 143c of the Basic Law, which cover the joint responsibilities of federal and state governments and financial compensation. The Major Research Instrumentation, Major Instrumentation in Research Buildings and State Major Instrumentation programmes have represented important funding opportunities ever since. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is assigned a review function in these programmes, as previously under the HBFG.
The report "Funding for Major Instrumentation – Development from 2007 to 2017" provides a detailed overview of the features of and differences between the programmes. Statistics on the development of major instrumentation programmes with regard to the success rate of proposals, differentiation by subject, applicant and instrumentation categories as well as processing time and reviews of applications, are also examined.