VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH (VDIVDE), Germany
VDI/VDE Innovation + Technik GmbH was created in 1978 as the management consulting subsidiary of both the VDI and the VDE, two of the largest engineering institutions in Europe. The company’s primary objective is to promote R&D in information technologies, to assist governmental authorities in developing initiatives to for accelerating technological development and to speed up product and process innovation in SMEs. Today, VDIVDE has a profound knowledge in coordinating European projects. The more than 100 employees, among them engineers, scientists, experts in business, economics, political science, and other fields of the social sciences, are a partner of federal and state governments, as well as the European Commission. Over the 25 years of its existence, VDIVDE has coordinated more than 6,000 innovative projects and aided over 500 start-up companies, thus providing the basis for the required managerial skills in conducting the project’s administrative work.