VDI/VDE-IT is an organisation set up in 1978 by two of the largest European professional associations for Engineers. Today, it employs more than 100 natural and social scientist, engineers, innovation managers and economists. Most of them are working in the framework of public funded European, German federal and state programmes, such as:

• Roadmapping, NCPs, IRCs, PRO INNO and ERA-Net projects to support the coherence of innovation and technology research in the European Research Area
• Gründerwettbewerb Multimedia and the Hightech Gründer Fonds assessment and coaching programme
• German technical co-operation and commercial consulting activities with countries of the Balkans, Northern Africa, China and further countries of South East Asia, e.g. Indonesia (innovation management, technology transfer)

For the German Ministry for Economy and Technology, VDI/VDE-IT is managing the Initiative Kompetenznetze Deutschland (Competence Networks Germany, on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology, BMWi) to support the regional development of clusters. For supporting the creation of new clusters and networks, VDI/VDE-IT has been awarded by the BMWi to run the so called ZIM 3 programme.

On the level of a European Research (and Economy) Area scale, close ties were knitted, e.g. with the French Pôles de Competitivité programme in the frame of the INNET project of the PRO INNO initiative. VDI/VDE IT represents the office of Kompetenznetze.de, the German umbrella service unit for publicly supported cluster managers.