Successful local cooperation

Digital Hub Karlsruhe builds on the region's unique competences in the field of applied AI and promotes the introduction of AI in business. Awarded by the German government in 2017, the Digital Hub focuses on four main topics: Increasing the visibility and collaboration of AI experts from business and academia. Providing an excellent ecosystem for AI start-ups. Enabling SMEs and companies to incorporate AI solutions into their business models and ensuring practical learning tools and demonstrators for applied AI. Since July 2019, the Digital Hub has also been funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics, Labour and Tourism.

Urban Tech is a European project that identifies the challenges for cities of the future and seeks and promotes intelligent solutions in the areas of Smart City, Health Tech and Green Tech. The project supports SMEs and startups developing innovative ideas in the above-mentioned sectors and cooperates with organizations from business, science and politics.

CyberForum is a consortium partner and represents the Karlsruhe region. Through Urban Tech, we support startups and SMEs in developing sustainable solutions and further expand our international network. Besides CyberForum, another ten partners from eleven countries are involved.

The project is funded by the Horizon2020 Framework Program of the European Union under Grant Agreement Number 101005301.

Urban Tech Website

Girls´ Digital Camps sind Transferprojekte des Wirtschaftsministeriums Baden-Württemberg, die Schülerinnen auf dem Weg in die digitale Welt begleiten und sie für alle damit verbundenen Themen und zukunftsweisenden Berufe begeistern sollen.

Die im Schuljahr 2019/2020 vom CyberForum e.V. im Rahmen der technika | Karlsruher Technik Initiative erfolgreich entwickelten Konzepte werden seit Januar 2021 auf die Region Nordschwarzwald bis Ende September 2023 ausgeweitet.

Zur Website von Girls' Digital Camps

The aim of KARL is to design human-centred, transparent and learning-friendly AI-supported working and learning systems and to make them presentable in concrete practical applications. The project is aimed at companies, employees and interested parties in the Karlsruhe region who want to use, deal with or better understand AI-supported working and learning systems. KARL is one of currently eight regional centres of excellence that is investigating the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on the learning and working world. CyberForum is part of the project consortium and is mainly responsible for public relations, community management and the sustainability concept. The consortium leader is Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. In addition to seven research and transfer partners, ten regional companies are also project partners.

Die Cyberwehr Baden-Württemberg ist ein bundesweit einmaliges Pilotprojekt: Kleine und mittlere Unternehmen unterstützt die Cyberwehr als zentrale Anlaufstelle im Falle eines IT-Sicherheitsvorfalls. In der Pilotphase richtet sich das Angebot an Unternehmen aus den Landkreisen Karlsruhe, Rastatt und Baden-Baden. Die Cyberwehr für sie an 7 Tagen der Woche und 24 Stunden am Tag erreichbar unter 0800-CYBERWEHR oder 0800-292379347. Langfristig will die Cyberwehr allen Unternehmen Baden-Württembergs bei IT-Sicherheitsvorfällen zur Seite stehen und IT-Experten vermitteln. Seit dem 23.4.2020 hat die Cyberwehr ihren Aktionsradius erweitert: aus ganz Baden-Württemberg können sich nun Einrichtungen aus den Bereichen der medizinischen und pflegerischen Versorgung sowie daran angrenzende Unterstützungsbereiche bei IT-Sicherheitsvorfällen an die kostenlose Hotline wenden.

Das Ministerium für Inneres, Digitalisierung und Migration Baden-Württemberg fördert das Projekt als Teil der Digitalisierungsstrategie digital@bw. Das Projekt wird von einem Konsortium bestehend aus FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik, DIZ | Digitales Innovationszentrum, CyberForum e.V. und der Secorvo Security Consulting GmbH umgesetzt.

Die Initiative karlsruhe.digital vereint Karlsruher Akteure aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft, Kultur und Verwaltung mit dem Ziel, Karlsruhe als Motor der Digitalisierung voranzutreiben – für Wettbewerbsfähigkeit, Lebensqualität und Souveränität. Durch die Initiative karlsruhe.digital wird Expertenwissen gebündelt, Vernetzung gefördert und Themen werden ganzheitlich bearbeitet, um die digitale Zukunft der Stadt aktiv zu gestalten.

The Digital Hubs are focal points for digital innovations in the regions of Baden-Württemberg. These unique digitalisation centres bring together a wide range of competencies, disciplines, ideas, technologies and creativity. Through cooperation, networking and exchange, the hubs promote digital innovations throughout the entire state. DIZ | Digitales Innovationszentrum GmbH was commissioned by the Ministry of Economics, Labour and Tourism of Baden-Württemberg to build a powerful digital hub network from the regional and topic-specific digital hubs. The DIZ | Digitales Innovationszentrum is a joint initiative of CyberForum e.V. and the FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik.

Website Digitale Geschäftsmodelle@BW

Die Digital Hubs sind Kristallisationspunkte für digitale Innovationen in den Regionen Baden-Württembergs. In diesen einzigartigen Digitalisierungszentren treffen unterschiedlichste Kompetenzen, Disziplinen, Ideen, Technologien und Kreativität aufeinander.Durch Kooperation, Vernetzung und Austausch werden mit den Hubs digitale Innovationen in der gesamten Fläche des Landes vorangebracht.

Die DIZ | Digitales Innovationszentrum GmbH wurde vom Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Tourismus Baden-Württemberg beauftragt, aus den regionalen und themenspezifischen Digital Hubs ein schlagkräftiges Digital Hub-Netzwerk aufzubauen. Das DIZ | Digitales Innovationszentrum ist eine gemeinsame Initiative des CyberForum e.V. und des FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik.

Regional roots, national connections. The IT Association emerged from the national initiative "smart businessIT" and builds bridges in a unique infrastructure with 13 IT networks covering the whole state of Baden-Württemberg.  Digitalization and innovation potential for small and medium-sized enterprises is developed and used by over 2500 IT cluster actors. Thus, the IT Association Baden-Württemberg provides an important basis for a promising digital transformation of the Baden-Württemberg economy.  

The aim of the SDaC research project is to develop a platform for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the construction industry. The resulting networking of companies of different sizes across organisational boundaries thus creates a collaborative and networked ecosystem between stakeholders of the platform and enables a rapid transfer of research results into applications in the construction industry.

Die Kooperation im Bereich Künstliche Intelligenz intensivieren – das ist das Ziel des vom Ministerium für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Wohnungsbau Baden-Württemberg geförderten Projekts „Deutsch-französische Vernetzung zu Industrie 4.0 und angewandter Künstlicher Intelligenz“. Das Projekt legt den Grundstein für die Entwicklung und den Aufbau eines deutsch-französischen KI-Ökosystems, das Akteure aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik sowie Intermediäre vernetzt und konstant in Austausch hält. Geleitet wird das Projekt vom DIZ | Digitales Innovationszentrum, im Projektkonsortium sind vertreten : Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg, Baden-Württemberg International, CyberForum e.V., FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik und Steinbeis 2i.

zur Website des deutsch-französischen Vernetzungsprojekt 

Stark durch Kooperationen! Das KIW fördert die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit, indem es strategische Kooperationen in der IT-Branche verwirklicht. So unterstützt es IT-KMU bei der systemischen Vernetzung ihrer Produkte.

Die Digitalisierung der deutschen Wirtschaft und insbesondere des Mittelstandes ist eine zentrale Herausforderung. Dabei sind die Anforderungen an Branchensoftware sehr unterschiedlich. Wo Standardsoftware nicht ausreicht, müssen maßgeschneiderte Lösungen her: Viele kleine und mittlere Unternehmen der IT-Branche haben sich auf die besonderen Anforderungen ihrer Kunden spezialisiert. Jedoch stellt die Vielzahl der eingesetzten Softwarelösungen die mittelständische Software-Industrie auch vor neue Aufgaben. Verschiedene Speziallösungen zu kombinieren erfordert zusätzlichen Aufwand in der Entwicklungsarbeit. Hier setzt das KIW an, indem es Software auf technischer und unternehmerischer Ebene vernetzt.

Um Unternehmen bei der Vernetzung zu unterstützen, hat das KIW die Matching-Plattform IT2match entwickelt. IT2match schafft eine geschlossene Plattform für die qualifizierte Vernetzung der gesamten IT-Branche. Hier können Softwareanbieter geeignete Kooperationspartner finden, um gemeinsam Lösungen zu schaffen. Denn ein breit aufgestellter IT-Mittelstand ist nicht nur wirtschaftlich potenter, sondern auch die entscheidende Triebkraft bei der Digitalisierung der gesamten Wirtschaft.

Das Unternehmernetzwerk CyberForum mit Sitz in Karlsruhe ist Stützpunkt Süd des KIW und Anlaufstelle für den IT-Mittelstand in Süddeutschland.

Supporting the transformation, strengthen the competitiveness of traditional forest-based industries: this is one of the main objectives of the FORESDA. Forest-based industries have the potential to become the engine for sustainable and competitive bio economy in the Danube Region, but, unfortunately they suffer from significant disparities, low level of internationalization, lack of cooperation, weak innovation culture, etc. Through its activities, FORESDA will transform the traditional forest-based areas into innovative, modern areas, develop innovation-friendly ecosystems aiming to improve or reconfigure the existing value chains; improve innovation culture in SMEs. CyberForum e.V. coordinates the project, which is implemented by 12 partners from nine European countries.

FORESDA is implemented in the framework of the Interreg Danube Programme and co-funded by European Union funds (ERDF, IPA, ENI). 

FORESDA Website

URBAN INNO (utilizing innovation potential of urban ecosystems) was supported as a project by the Interreg Central Europe Programm. CyberForum is coordinating the project during its three-year running time; there are 12 project partners from eight countries involved in it. 

The aim of the project is to strengthen the innovation potential of small and medium-sized urban ecosystems through the integration of so-called quadruple helix clusters. In the implementation this means, that alongside the city and the economy also regional networks and especially citizens participate in the city development and innovation processes.

In URBAN INNO, a toolbox of participative methods is further developed, improved and used in nine pilot projects in order to be available in future as a blueprint for comparable processes in urban ecosystems. 

URBAN INNO Website

With two contact points in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, the Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center Stuttgart supports small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and craft businesses to implement digital transformation. In addition, the Competence Center provides information on new digital applications and answers questions on opportunities and risks of digitally connected technologies.

The Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center is one of the eleven competence centers currently supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) within the framework of the initiative "Mittelstand 4.0 - Digital Production and Work Processes".

CyberForum e.V. joins the project as a sub-contractor.

Mittelstand 4.0 Competence Center Website

It is the aim of PERMIDES to strengthen the competitiveness and foster the innovation potential of Personalized Medicine as an Emerging Industry in Europe by providing key solutions for the reconfiguration of the biopharmaceutical value chain towards a Health Economy 4.0 with a special focus on oncology (i.e. cancer treatment).

PERMIDES is funded by the EU framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020, and is coordinated by CyberForum e.V. 

The project Be Wiser (Building Enterprises – Wireless and Internet Security in European Regions) was aimed to inform the population about the dangers of cybercrime. Be Wiser investigates the organisation and technical research challenges in some of the best-known European RTD regions. The technological focus is on wireless internet security.

The necessity of a complete, secure system cannot be emphasized enough when balancing the users’ trust and the needs of citizens, the government and companies in relation to their privacy and safety.  If this is disregarded, Europe takes the risk of not being able to fully develop new opportunities and remaining behind on a global level considering technology rollouts, innovation and the creation of work places.  

UPSIDE, User-driven Participatory Solutions for Innovation in Digitally-centred Ecosystems, aims to generate economic and social benefits through promoting the creation and development of user-oriented solutions when innovating in the field of digitally-oriented ecosystems.

Based on the priorities of the cities participating in the EU project and the estimated market potential, the UPSIDE partners concentrate on activities in the fields of health, traffic systems, eGovernment, mGovernment and energy to develop user-oriented solutions from a shared position which can then be implemented in all partner regions. 

The partners define a joint strategy and measures within these areas to develop and promote innovation systems which are capable of speeding up the cycle of research, innovation and acceptance in real-life surroundings.  

Results from research and development are put into a practical context to facilitate an active contribution from users.

The main aim of the project is to convert Central Europe into an open sector laboratory for innovations which considers social, organizational and technological aspects. 

Ten partners from eight countries have united to pursue this objective together. CentraLab would like to illustrate the competitive advantages of these new innovation applications in order to promote territorial cohesion, integration, the sharing of experience and the development of partnerships between the countries.

The Interreg IVC project “ClusteriX” aims to enable regional authorities the identification, analysis and opening of potential of future strategic cluster developments through sharing experiences and proven practices between nine partners from eight different countries. 

The priority aim of ClusteriX is to raise the competitiveness of the European regions and their innovation potential to create a so-called “Smart Specialization” (intelligent specialization) through improvement and the strategic realignment of cluster politics. 

ClusteriX is further concerned with the financing of cluster support, the driving of newly created industries through cluster development and the creation of a framework for networked cluster cooperation between the partner regions. 

CyberForum e.V. is involved in the project via the Karlsruhe Economic Development Department.  

The Upper-Rhine is growing together: with every project. Under this motto the project IT2RHINE 2020 E-commerce has the aim of facing the challenges of cross-border electronic business traffic in the Upper Rhine region and finding suitable solutions.

The initial project aim is to determine through specific investigations and a practice-oriented approach in the border area why the electronic business traffic is stagnating and not developing further, although in general it shows a two-figure increase.  The project thus fulfils one of the aims of the EU Commission’s Digital Agenda (2010).

In a second stage the project partners will sensitize a large part of the e-commerce players in the Upper-Rhine area to regional on site e-commerce, and provide encouragement and support.  

IT2Rhine 2020 Website 

The Mobile Region of Karlsruhe provides the ideal platform for mobile solutions players from the TechnologyRegion. It has the aim of positioning the region as a leading center of excellence for mobile internet solutions. Over 50 businesses, research institutes, communities and universities are currently engaged in this community of interests.

Members have initiated, for example, their own “Living Lab for mobile end devices” in order to develop prototypes more cost-effective, faster and create them considerably simpler, and make new products marketable in a shorter time. Other members are engaged with their own project ideas in the transformation of the city of Karlsruhe as a “Smarter City”. 

In the open network “SaaS4KMU” 15 companies and 2 research and science partners have joined forces to bundle their competences for the field “software as a service” and offer flexible and consistent solutions to SMEs. 

CyberForum founded the subnetwork “Saas4KMU” in order to reach these goals in a timely manner and above all suitable for the requirements and to support the technology transfer between research and practice.   

The Upper Rhine is further expanding its leadership position in the IT industry under the name “IT2Rhine”. The long-term cooperation in the border triangle between France, Germany and Switzerland highlights the particular strength of this economic area. The existing cross-border IT cluster activities are additionally supported by IT2Rhine. Over 15 institutions and IT networks in all three nations began the joint project in January 2009; they represent over 2,000 businesses in the IT sector in the Upper Rhine. Exchange and coordinating joint projects and events in the respective partner regions takes place in regular meetings.   

The “BigDieMo” (Big Data Service Industry Business Models) project began on 1 October 2015 with a running time of three years and was sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the framework of the research programme “Innovations for the Production, Service industry and Work of Tomorrow”.

BigDieMo, in harmony with the high-tech strategy of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, pursues the long-term priority objective of increasing the innovation dynamic in the German economy. The project addresses the field of “process innovation through digitalization” by giving businesses from Germany an orientation and method of developing innovative data-based business models. BigDieMo is carried out jointly by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the University of Hamburg, the Friedrich-Alexander University in Nuremberg, Festo AG & Co. KG and CyberForum e. V., as well as various implementation partners.  

Das EDIH-AICS ist ein europäisches Projekt, das darauf abzielt Künstliche Intelligence und Cybersicherheit in den Bereichen Produktion, Mobilität, Energie, Handel und Dienstleistungen sowie bei Kommunen Europaweit zu stärken und voranzubringen.

Gemeinsam mit exzellenten Partnern aus der erweiterten TechnologieRegion Karlsruhe bietet das CyberForum Angebote für lokale, nationale und europäische kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU), Start-ups und Organisationen des öffentlichen Sektors an, um ihre Unternehmen zu digitalisieren.

Das Projekt wird gefördert durch das Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) Rahmenprogramm der Europäischen Union unter der Grant Agreement Nummer 101083994.

Zur Webseite von EDIH-AICS

Mit den KI-Labs wird die Schlüsseltechnologie Künstliche Intelligenz in die Fläche des Landes Baden-Württemberg getragen. Sie sind erste Anlaufstelle für interessierte Unternehmen in der Region, die sich über konkrete Einsatzmöglichkeiten von KI und beispielhafte Anwendungen informieren wollen.

Dabei stellen das CyberForum im Rahmen des DIZ I Digitales Innovationszentrum, das Fraunhofer-Institut für Arbeitswirtschaft und Organisation (IAO) und das Institut für Arbeitswissenschaften und Technologiemanagement (IAT) der Universität Stuttgart ihre fachliche Expertise, Wissen zu praktischen Anwendungsfällen sowie ihr Netzwerk im Bereich KI zur Verfügung.

Zur Website des EXI Digital BW Gründungsgutschein

Die Karlsruher Technik-Initiative ist Deutschlands größte regionale MINT-Initiative und erreicht wöchentlich mehr als 1.500 Schüler*innen an über 100 Schulen. Ihr Ziel ist es, junge Menschen für Technik zu begeistern und technische Talente früh zu entdecken und zu fördern. Mit Unternehmensbesuchen, Ferienangeboten, Robotik-Wettbewerben und Multiplikatoren-Schulungen sowie spezifischen Angeboten für Mädchen erweitert sie kontinuierlich ihr Portfolio. Die technika arbeitet eng mit allen Hochschulen der Region zusammen und wird von zahlreichen Stiftungen und Initiativen wie karlsruhe.digital ideell und finanziell gefördert.

Zur Webseite der Karlsruher Technik-Initiative

Creative communication: MEKA Media Region Karlsruhe e.V. unites the leading creative powers in the Karlsruhe region and is available to businesses and public institutions in various economic sectors as an expert contact partner for classical and the most up-to-date communication solutions. The skills of media and advertising businesses as well as professionals in film, marketing, music, design and much more are bundled in the MEKA.

MEKA Website

The Founder Alliance unites all institutes and facilities (public and non-profit) in Karlsruhe in a unique network which cooperates closely and has the right contact for every question about founding a business. Those interested in founding a business are sent to the right place and can access high quality and supplementary consulting and information. 

Offers from the Founder Alliance are for various economic sectors; the aim is to develop Karlsruhe into one of the leading regions for founders and businesses in Europe.  The IHK (Chamber of Industry and Commerce), Handwerkskammer (Chamber of Crafts), CyberForum, Technology Region Karlsruhe, the universities and municipal institutes as well as actors from the financial and creative industry are united in the Founder Alliance.

Gründerallianz (Founder Alliance) Karlsruhe Website

The "Silicon Valley" of Europe stretches over the five locations of Karlsruhe, Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken and Walldorf: the ‘software cluster’ based here drives the development of emerging software for digital businesses and has been promoted within the framework of the “top cluster competition” run by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. CyberForum coordinates the cluster work in the North Baden region.   

Software-Cluster Website

“Our servers are secure” and “nothing will happen” are statements which, despite increasing network attacks and data theft, you are still frequently faced with. The Karlsruhe IT Security Initiative was established in 2001 in order to concretely and decisively improve IT security in the region and create wider awareness of the subject – for businesses as well as private individuals.  

KA-IT-Si Website

The Karlsruhe Software Engineer Association connects  software engineers from Karlsruhe. Numerous and excellent software technology skills are brought together: at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and other universities, in public and private economy research institutes, in many medium-sized software enterprises, and with national and international market leaders, who all exchange ideas and information with each other at the VKSI. Annual highlight: the Karlsruhe Developer’s Day.   

VKSI Website

The DIZ | Digital Innovation Centre is an initiative of the IT Research Institute and CyberForum e.V. Its aim is to sustainably support the economy of the State of Baden-Württemberg, and its small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, in their digitalization efforts and thus further the digital revolution and digital transformation in the state.