1. Contact phase – During the contact phase, the key accounters identified a contact person for each research group at the respective universities which handle research data and wish for support.
2. Demand assessment phase – In this phase, the concrete needs of each group have been identified. In order to achieve this, intensive dialogue concerning the status  quo, scheduled and/or expected developments  as well as already available solutions was necessary.
3. Clarification phase – During the clarification phase, issues of general importance and general requirements have been identified. This was done based on the user stories and story maps as well as on the work of the working groups.
4. Finalization phase – The finalization phase focused on the analysis and assessment, summary and documentation of the project results. Based on comprehensive needs assessment detailed recommendations for concrete measures (e.g. infrastructure expansion, development of technologies, knowledge transfer etc.) to boost Baden-Wurttemberg as a scientific hub have been developed.

All universities of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg participate in the bwFDM-Communities project. These are:

University of Freiburg Heidelberg University University of Hohenheim KIT - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology University of Mannheim University of Stuttgart University of Tübingen Ulm University