Bavaria and Baden-W眉rttemberg team up on battery research
dpa / Die Welt
Two economically powerful southern German states, Bavaria and Baden-W眉rttemberg, have announced that they will join forces to set up a new battery cell research centre, news agency dpa reports in an carried by newspaper Die Welt. Bavarian State Premier Markus S枚der of the conservative CSU said his state and Green Party-led Baden-W眉rttemberg would launch a 鈥渞eal offensive鈥� to promote battery research, with institutes opening in the cities Ulm, Augsburg and N枚rdlingen. The state governments would also be calling for additional funding from the federal government, he added.
Bavaria and Baden-W眉rttemberg, home to carmakers BMW, Audi and Daimler, recently lost a national tender for Germany鈥檚 new battery research institute to western state North Rhine-Westphalia, where research minister Anja Karliczek said the government would invest 500 million euros in the city of M眉nster to challenge Asian countries鈥� dominance in battery production. The Bavaria and Baden-W眉rttemberg state governments criticised the decision on grounds that M眉nster has no links to the car industry, and have called for transparency over how the decision was reached. Minister Karliczek鈥檚 constituency borders M眉nster.
