FAZIT Research - IT and media technologies in Baden-Württemberg

Innovations and new markets – these are the main factors in an inter-regional contest to secure and create jobs. Discovering trends at an early stage supports the competitiveness of a region as well as the emergence of new markets. For this reason Baden-Wuerttemberg launched the non-profit project FAZIT (Forschungsprojekt für Aktuelle und Zukunftsorientierte Informations- und MedienTechnologien und deren Nutzung in Baden-Wuerttemberg – Research Project for Current and Future IT and Media Technologies and Their Use in Baden-Wuerttemberg).

FAZIT focuses on the identification of new markets for innovative IT and media technologies. Representative surveys are carried out every six months to provide up-to-date information on local short- and mid-term developments in the IT and media sector as well as in selected ICT user sectors in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

The determinants, the extent and the economical effects of the use of IT and media technologies are recorded and analysed. During the project workshops and case studies serve to deepen the understanding of selected market issues and to encourage the discussion on potentials for practical implementation.

Social and technical trends are the subject of three Delphi studies and experts estimate the probability of their occurrence. Additionally, a scenario process is applied to investigate the theses and their relevance to Baden-Wuerttemberg‘s future viability. Finally, the results and future perspectives are summarised in a roadmap for Baden-Wuerttemberg — leading the way to new market opportunities and generating new perspectives for science, technology and the economy.

The organisation executing this four-year research project is the MFG Stiftung Baden-Wuerttemberg, Stuttgart, Germany. Project partners are the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, Germany, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI), Karlsruhe, Germany.

The research partners compile various market issues based on an analysis of their potential and relevance with the aim to derive specific research questions and to identify gaps in current research. In a second step, empirical research is used to examine the market issues more closely. To reveal future trends additional methodological measures such as ICT monitoring, Delphi studies, scenarios, case studies and scientific workshops are applied. The results of the research are continuously published on thi Internet and in the FAZIT series of publications.

Market issues 2006

• Market opportunities with social software
• Flexibility through e-Business
• Market potential of IT-based health services

Market issues 2006/2007

• Ecological efficiency through IT
• Simulation and visualisation in product development
• IT in internal logistics/intralogistics