Baden-Württemberg is a leading area in Germany for research and development in the various disciplines associated with microsystems engineering and nanotechnology.

The Institute for Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg is one of the leading establishments in the world in the field of microsystems engineering with a total of 18 academic chairs and around 200 employees. The research work of the Institute covers almost all relevant areas in the inter-disciplinary field of microsystems engineering.

The Karlsruhe region also represents another core region in the area of research and development in the field of micro and nanotechnology in Baden-Württemberg. The KIT centre for nano and micro-scale research and technology (NanoMikro) at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) with its large number of employees represents the largest centre in Germany in the field of nanotechnology and microsystems engineering. In 2001 the Centre of Excellence “Centre for Functional Nanostructure” (CFN) was set up in Karlsruhe by the German Research Association (DFG): with 45 group leaders, over 60 projects and over 200 associated scientists at the Technical University of Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), it is one of the largest centres for nano-science research in Europe.

The Stuttgart site also has a high level of research and development competency in the field of microsystems engineering. As well as numerous institutes at the University of Stuttgart, renowned institutes run by the Fraunhofer and Max- Planck company are located in Stuttgart, investigating questions associated with micro and nano technologies as part of their scientific work.

Equally renowned contract research facilities, such as the Institute for Microstructure Technology run by the Hahn- Schickard company (HSG-IMAT) and the Stuttgart Institute for Microelectronics (IMS CHIPS), are based in Stuttgart.