With more than 350 university partnerships, there are many formal and informal research connections between the US and Bavaria. For example, in 2000, Bavaria formed the Bavaria California Technology Center to foster joint research of Bavarian and Californian universities in the areas of life sciences, environmental technologies, information and communication technology and mechatronics. Fraunhofer and Max Planck are also active in the US, thereby gaining access to a broader range of scientific expertise and facilitating technology transfer between the US and Germany, bilaterally.