In an OECD study from 2012 Germany was listed as the only country that did not expect OER to become a policy priority in the near future (Hylen et al. 2012). Since then the topic OER has become more ubiquitous also for the public institutions in Germany. On 1 November 2016 the German Ministry of Education and Research launched the OER information office, OERinfo, through a new funding programme which aims to foster and support open educational resources (BMBF 2016). Ahead, a feasibility study concerning OER infrastructure had been delivered by the German Institute for International Educational Research (Deutscher Bildungsserver 2016), the institution that has since been appointed to establish OERinfo. OERinfo’s activities are guided by three main pillars: (1) information, (2) transfer, and (3) networking and linking-up. OER info will systematically screen current OER streams and ongoing OER activities and document them. Ongoing developments in the OER community and best practice examples will be monitored and disseminated through workshops and presentations. At the same time, the information office screens potentials for expanding existing networks and broadening the influence of OER and its advocators. The development of the OER community will be visualised through the OER Map of Germany. These main pillars are systematically supported by co-operation partners in four educational sectors: school education, university education, vocational education and training, and adult education. The information office is commissioned to assess potentials in these specific areas together with its co-operation partners and prepare targeted information modules for OER use. The partners will serve to identify and approach new target groups. Furthermore, the information office represents the hub and facilitator for collaboration for 24 projects of the OERinfo funding line of the German Ministry of Education and Research, whose goal it is to raise awareness and qualify OER multipliers. In parallel to the new federal initiatives by the German Ministry for Education and Research, the assembly of the ministers of education of the German federal states published a strategy that focuses on education and open learning in a digital world (Kultusministerkonferenz Deutschland 2016). This underpins the new priorities and policy priorities in Germany in terms of open educational resources and openness in education as a whole.

BMBF (2016): Richtlinie zur Förderung von Offenen Bildungsmaterialien (Open Educational Resources – OERinfo). https://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/bekanntmachung-1132.html Deutscher Bildungsserver (2016): Machbarkeitsstudie zum Aufbau und Betrieb von OER-Infrastrukturen in der Bildung. http://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2016/11715/pdf/OER_Machbarkeitsstudie_Bericht.pdf Hylén, J., Damme, D. V., Mulder, F., & D’Antoni, S. (2012): Open Educational Resources (OECD Education Working Papers). Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. http://www.oecdilibrary.org/content/workingpaper/5k990rjhvtlv-en Kultusministerkonferenz Deutschland (KMK) (2016): Strategie “Bildung in der digitalen Welt” https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/pdf/PresseUndAktuelles/2016/Bildung_digitale_Welt_Webversion.pdf