Jena (dpa/th) - According to a study by scientists, German reunification more than 30 years ago primarily boosted the innovative power of the old federal states. The analyzes have made it clear "that the intensity of innovation activities in the west has developed much better than in the east since the mid-1990s - the east is falling behind more and more in the area of innovation," said Jena's Friedrich Schiller University on Friday. The study came from economists from Jena and the Universities of Groningen and Utrecht.
It was created as part of a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Research. It dealt with the consequences of the division of Germany on regional differences between East and West Germany in the field of innovation.
The patent applications per capita in East and West Germany were compared from 1877 to 2015. "Thanks to this long period of time, we were able to show that there were no east-west differences in the intensity of innovation before the Second World War," explained the scientist Michael Wyrwich. Starting in 1991, there was an increase in innovation activities in both West and East Germany.
"However, this curve rises much steeper in the west than in the areas of the former GDR," said Jena professor Michael Fritsch. The innovations in the East are primarily concentrated on flagship regions such as Jena and Dresden. One reason is that duplicate structures in research and development were eliminated after reunification, mostly at the expense of the East. "So West German researchers pushed out East German researchers," says Fritsch. In addition, many qualified East German researchers and developers have migrated to the West.
There is still no convergence (rapprochement) between East and West in the innovation process. "But if the East is to catch up economically, then it has to grow faster than the West - and that requires innovations," the scientists explained.
