Goals

simul⁺ is a network and a platform. It reflects the themes and goals of the Saxon State Ministry for Regional Development and is interdepartmental in nature. Hereby, our guiding principle is innovation-based regional development.

TOGETHER with our regional partners, we initiate and promote projects for the future with a vision of smart regions. The concept of smartness includes a technological and economic as well as an ecological and social dimension. We focus on new solutions, that are technically possible, economically successful, and socially accepted. Solutions that move our regions forward economically and solutions that improve the living conditions in Saxony. On the way to implementing the "smart region vision", we want to set new impulses, raise innovation potentials locally and in the end accelerate innovation-based regional change. Our goals are:

• Strengthening the culture of innovation,
• Improving accessibility and services of general interest and the conditions for living and working together,
• Intensification of cooperation between cities and rural areas,
• Opening up new sources of value creation, supporting regional value chains or networks.

We pay special attention to the cross-cutting theme "digitalisation". Our goal is to accelerate the digital transformation. We believe that the strengthening of digital competences (holistic-systemic understanding of the digital transformation) is an important prerequisite for this. Saxony has excellent competences in the areas of hardware, software and connectivity, which we want to make use for regional development. By supporting the development and dissemination of new, digital solutions in various fields of application, we aim at promoting the emergence of new products, processes, services, business models or new ways of working together in society.

The challenges of the future require a networked, inter- and transdisciplinary approach without restriction to certain technologies. simul⁺ therefore networks actors from different areas of the economy, science, administration and citizenship. In concrete projects, where acceptance of new solutions is very important, the user perspective is adopted in special co-creation processes.

Innovations are inventions, that have prevailed on the market and in society. They are often created through cooperation across borders of all kinds. With targeted activities - from the exchange of experiences to joint projects - simul⁺ also aims at intensifying supra-regional and international cooperation. This raises Saxony's profile in other regions and strengthens the chance to participate in European initiatives.