In February the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF, set up new funding for the German universities and institutions involved in ALICE, ATLAS and CMS.
Besides financing the institutes individually, the BMBF approved additional funding for three BMBF-Forschungsschwerpunkte (FSP), or BMBF strategic research clusters. These comprise a large number of university groups and other research institutions working closely within a national research network. The scheme aims to promote co-operation between the institutes to create wider networks of scientific excellence and enhanced international visibility.
FSP 201 – ALICE, FSP 101 – ATLAS and FSP 102 – CMS won the first funding round. In total, the institutes in these clusters will receive more than €32 million for the next funding period, which runs until 2009. The research centres Karlsruhe, DESY and GSI will assist the clusters in their work.
