The German Leading-Edge Cluster Competition in 2012 has now finished and five winners have been awarded.

The Leading-Edge Cluster competition is intended to take Germany to the top of the league of technologically advanced nations. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research launched the competition in the summer of 2007 under the slogan "Germany's Leading-Edge Clusters - more innovation, more growth, more employment". The high-performance clusters formed by business and science that enter into strategic partnerships are set to boost Germany's innovative strengths and economic success.
The plan is to hold three rounds of competition some eighteen months apart. In each round of the competition, up to EUR 200 million will be made available to up to five Leading-Edge Clusters over a period no longer than five years. The implementation envisages a matching level of financial participation on the part of businesses and private investors.

The funding of Leading-Edge Clusters is based on a common strategy that starts from the respective strengths of each cluster and is aimed at the definition of future development objectives. This supposes involvement of the entire innovation chain, right from the idea through to its commercial exploitation.
The results of 2012 and the presentation of the five winners you will find here: www.bmbf.bund.de/de/15573.php

The page is still in German, the English version is not yet published.
Source: www.cluster-collaboration.eu/web/guest/news/-/blogs/find_entry