Press Release

The Software-Cluster: Cluster jury gives the green light to the next phase

Berlin/Darmstadt, Germany, 8/28/2012

The Software-Cluster still knows how to impress: The international panel of judges for the German government's top cluster competition is recommending that the second phase of funding be released. This would allow the partners from the region encompassing Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, Karlsruhe, Saarbrücken, and Walldorf, Germany to continue their projects that are laying the foundation for the enterprise software of the future and permanently establish Germany's Software-Cluster as an international leader.

At a meeting in Berlin on July 2, 2012, chaired by Prof. Andreas Barner of Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, the panel reviewed the findings and structures resulting from the first two years of funding the Software-Cluster in the context of the German government's top cluster competition. Three key representatives of the Software-Cluster answered the judges' questions: Software-Cluster Chairman Prof. Lutz Heuser; Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO of Software AG; and Prof. Wolfgang Wahlster, CEO of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). On behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), a company called Projektträger Jülich informed the Software-Cluster's office that the next funding phase has been approved, releasing the last third of the €40 million in funding from the top cluster competition.

The funding from the top cluster competition has already led to a number of tangible results in the first two years. Many new long-term cooperations and projects have arisen from teamwork between the region's large and small companies and its academic institutions, and significant progress has been made in basic research on the enterprise software of the future, as measured by how much the Software-Cluster has published and how many patents it has applied for. A certificate program in emergent software has been set up to train specialists and executives, and the partners are collaborating on supplementary certificates from universities' existing master's programs and on expanding top qualifications, for example, in the field of IT security. The cluster's players have also pooled their resources to market the cluster internationally in order to establish a common brand that stands for German quality in the field of enterprise software. The Software-Cluster has established permanent relationships with partner clusters in South Africa, Brazil, Korea, and China. At the same time, the Software-Cluster is having an impact on its own region: More than 150 companies have registered as Software-Cluster partners since the beginning of 2012.

Quotations:

Professor Lutz Heuser, Software-Cluster Chairman:
"The recommendation of the independent panel of judges is an acknowledgement of the progress and results that the Software-Cluster has achieved in the last two years. Close collaboration between the business world and academia has already brought us significantly closer to our goal of laying the foundation for the enterprise software of tomorrow. I am sure that the Software-Cluster can live up to the judges' expectations, permanently strengthening the German software industry."
Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO of Software AG: 
 "We have made enormous progress in strengthening the Software-Cluster as an important force in industrial policy. Software is already considered an engine for economic growth and a job creator in Germany. This recognition of our software expertise helps us promote our initiatives internationally."
Professor Wolfgang Wahlster, CEO of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI):
"Our cluster region has a world-leading research network in the field of next-generation enterprise software thanks to our top cluster's reciprocal boost from the Ph.D. projects at the BMBF software campus and our elite European institute, EIT ICT Labs."

About Software AG
Software AG is the global leader in Business Process Excellence. Our 40 years of innovation include the invention of the first high-performance transactional database, Adabas; the first business process analysis platform, ARIS; and the first B2B server and SOA-based integration platform, webMethods and pioneering Big Data technology with Terracotta.
We offer our customers a variety of end-to-end solutions delivering low Total-Cost-of-Ownership and high ease of use. Our industry-leading brands, ARIS, webMethods, Adabas, Natural, CentraSite, Terracotta and IDS Scheer Consulting, represent a unique portfolio encompassing: process strategy, design, integration and control; SOA-based integration and data management; Big Data management; process-driven SAP implementation; and strategic process consulting and services.
Software AG had revenues of €1.1 billion in 2011 and has more than 5,500 employees serving about 10,000 enterprise and public institution customers across 70 countries. Our comprehensive software and services solutions allow companies to continuously achieve their business results faster. The company is headquartered in Germany and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE 0003304002 / SOW).

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ABOUT THE SOFTWARE-CLUSTER
The objectives: Digital enterprises work in highly flexible, Internet-based business networks, and design their dynamic business models and processes to ensure that all data regarding processes, operating funds, and resources is available at all times in precise real-time and dimensional resolution for planning, controlling, and optimization. The Software-Cluster's goal is to enable the transformation of businesses into fully digital enterprises that use ICT as the key driver for product and process innovation.
The path: The Software-Cluster will work on numerous projects to develop concepts, technologies and business processes for emergent software—an innovative leap in the area of enterprise software, which is a key contributor to the German national economy. Emergent software creates a dynamic and flexible combination of numerous components from various providers to meet the highly complex needs of digital enterprises.
The region: The Software-Cluster spans centers in Darmstadt, Kaiserslautern, Karlsruhe, Saarbrücken, and Walldorf.
The partners: Strategy Board: DFKI (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH), Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering, IMC information multimedia communication AG, intelligent views gmbh, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), proAlpha Software AG, SAP AG, Seeburger AG, Software AG, and Darmstadt University of Technology / CASED
Industry and regional IT networks: CAS Software AG, Competence Center Computer Science, ConWeaver GmbH, Corisecio GmbH, CyberForum e.V., 1&1 Internet AG, EUROSEC GmbH, IHK Darmstadt Service GmbH, Insiders Technologies GmbH, John Deere Werke Mannheim, KOBIL Systems GmbH, mineway GmbH, Scheer Management GmbH, SIEDA GmbH, Sirrix AG, STI Software Technologie Initiative Kaiserslautern e.V., and Technologie-Initiative smartFactory KL e.V.
Research and development: DFKI - Innovative Retail Laboratory, the FZI (Research Center for Information Technology) in Karlsruhe, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology, the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), TU Kaiserslautern, and Saarland University

Cluster chairman: Professor Lutz Heuser

PRESS CONTACT
Bernd Hartmann • Press Relations Officer • Software-Cluster Coordination Office
Darmstadt University of Technology • Mornewegstraße 32 • 64293 Darmstadt, Germany
Phone +49 6151 16-75212 • Fax +49 6151 16-70921
E-Mail: bernd.hartmann@software-cluster.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/softwarecluster
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com

Contact: Software AG Barbara Koegler Senior Vice President Corporate Communications Uhlandstrasse 12 64297 Darmstadt Germany Tel: +49 6151 92-1574 Fax: +49 6151 92-34-1243 press@softwareag.com http://www.softwareag.com

or: Software AG Bärbel Strothmann-Schmitt Senior Manager, Public Relations Uhlandstrasse 12 64297 Darmstadt Germany Tel: +49 6151 92-1502 Fax: +49 6151 92-1623 press@softwareag.com http://www.softwareag.com