Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG) and GMD are to be merged under the roof of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. This was agreed between the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn, and the chairmen of the executive and supervisory boards of the two research organizations. The merger will give birth to Europe’s biggest research organization for information and communications technology with more than 2500 employees in this field. It is expected to strengthen and focus research on information and communications technology funded by government. The merger of the GMD and FhG is a first step towards the implementation of the Federal Government’s action program ‘Innovation and Jobs in the Information Society’.