Commissioner for Europe of the Minister of Finance and Economics of Baden-Württemberg

The importance of European research funding and European technology transfer was recognised in 1990 by the Minister of Economics at the time who delegated a Commissioner for Europe to help small and medium sized enterprises, in particular in their communication with Brussels. Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum (SEZ) was founded almost at exactly that time as his operational unit.

With the entry into force of the Single European Act in July 1987, the European research funding had become increasingly important. This was reflected in the significant increase in funding which was made available for this. Until that point, it was usually the larger enterprises in the state which benefited from funding from EU programmes. Yet, in contrast, the smaller and medium sized enterprises found it difficult to take part in such programmes. It was, therefore, necessary to establish an advisory institution for this. Therefore, the Minister of Economics at the time of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Hermann Schaufler, created the position of the Commissioner for Europe for which the organisational unit of the Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum, located in the Haus der Wirtschaft in Stuttgart, was founded. The office was also joined to the Steinbeis Foundation which guaranteed close ties with the research landscape of the state.

This created a contact point for companies which offered assistance in all matters regarding European research funding, the formation of international consortia and project bidding for funding.

First Commissioner for Europe and founding father: Prof. Dr. Hans J. Tümmers, 1990 - 1995

Second Commissioner for Europe: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Nieß, 1995 - 2002

Third Commissioner for Europe: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Norbert Höptner, 2002 until today