The Bavarian Research Alliance GmbH (BayFOR) is a private not for profit-oriented company to support Bavaria as a centre for science and innovation within the European Research Area. With a mandate of the Bavarian government (via the Bavarian State Chancellery and the Bavarian State Ministry of Education, Science and the Arts) the company was set up at the end of 2006 on the initiative of the Bavarian universities and universities of applied sciences. BayFOR’s main tasks are the support of universities, research institutions and private sector stakeholders, especially SMEs in (inter-) national RDI consortia and to strengthen their networking at regional, national and international level. Within SOPLAS BayFOR will offer training activities for the ESRs and contribute to SOPLAS’ training in the field of intercultural communications and training in grant writing.