The joint efforts of the business and scientific partners within the Software-Cluster have already led to numerous successes over the past few years. These, in turn, have strengthened the cluster and the density of its networks.

Below you will find a number of exemplary results:

All three cyber-security centers of the federal government are based within the Software-Cluster

Security on the Internet is an important prerequisite for enabling citizens, companies and public authorities to fully utilize the possibilities of digitalization. For this reason, the federal government wants to push ahead with research into IT security. With funding to the amount of 17 million euros, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is setting up three centers of expertise for IT security. And as announced during the opening ceremony of the CeBIT 2011, all three centers will be based within the Software-Cluster region.

The universities were able to convince the jury with the following concepts:

• European Center for Security and Privacy by Design (EC-SPRIDE): TU Darmstadt /CASED/ Fraunhofer SIT
• Kompetenzzentrum für angewandte Sicherheitstechnologie (KASTEL – Center of Excellence for Applied IT Security): Karlsruher Institute of Technology (KIT)
• Center for IT Security, Privacy and Accountability (CISPA): Saarland University

Cloud expertise from the Software-Cluster

During the competition "Sicheres Cloud Computing für Mittelstand und öffentlichen Sektor - Trusted Cloud" (Secure Cloud Computing for SMEs and the Public Sector – Trusted Cloud), which was held by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), numerous Software-Cluster partners provided convincing arguments with their concepts for cloud computing. The BMWi has now launched the program "Trusted Cloud", which will support the development and testing of innovative, secure and legally compliant cloud solutions over the next three years with funding of around 50 million euros. A total of 12 projects from 116 submissions were selected, three of which went straight to partners in the Software-Cluster:

• Important Software-Cluster partners, such as the German Research Center for Artificial intelligence (DFKI), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the company SEEBURGER AG, are members of the "Peer Energy Cloud" consortium. The project "Peer Energy Cloud" is dealing with the development of solutions for the intelligent distribution and utilization of renewable energies.
• The Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (Darmstadt), also an important Software-Cluster partner, is involved in another award-winning project called "CloudCycle". This project is creating an open source platform that will support the entire life cycle of cloud services.

The Software-Cluster is strongly integrated into the ICT labs of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology, which was established within the scope of an initiative launched by the European Commission President Barrosso, wants to reshape the landscape of innovation within Europe. Numerous so-called Knowledge & Innovation Communities (KIC) have therefore set up in relation to technology subjects that are of importance for Europe. One such KIC comprises the ICT labs, which bundle research activities within the area of ICT. Numerous players from the Software-Cluster have been integrated as partners (the DFKI, Fraunhofer Institute, SAP AG) or affiliate partners (CASED, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Saarland University) into these ICT labs.

The Software-Cluster is an "Ausgewählter Ort 2011 im Land der Ideen"

Thanks to the project "Digital veredelt - Software-Cluster bietet Innovationen für Unternehmen" (digitally refined – Software-Cluster offers innovations for companies), the Software-Cluster was chosen as one of the "Landmarks 2011" within the scope of the initiative "Germany – Land of Ideas".

Award-winning IT education & training within the cluster region

Information technology and computer science within the cluster region continuously achieve a top position in relation to the Excellence Initiatives of the German Research Community (DFG), as the following examples corroborate:

• Cluster of Excellence in Saarbrücken
• Graduate schools within the scope of the Excellence Initiatives in Darmstadt and Saarbrücken
• University of Excellence in Karlsruhe