[en] The Karlsruhe Research Center is a national research center founded and substantially funded by the German Federal Government and the Land government of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the federal state where it is located. It is a member of the Hermann von Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren and is one of the most important, independent research centers in Germany working in the fields of the natural sciences and engineering sciences. The Center's R and D programmes encompass research activities up to pre-industrial scale as well as product and process development, research for precautionary policy and purposes, and fundamental research. The focal points of the R and D programme 2001 are explained under the following subject titles: - Environment - Public Health - Energy - Key Technologies - Fundamental Research. The programme reveals the shift of emphasis of activities which commenced in the early 1980s, away from nuclear engineering as the major focus in the early days towards a much wider spectrum of activities today, characterized by aspects such as complexity of tasks, long-term planning, and the need for cross-disciplinary and multilateral cooperation. The second volume of the publication explains the programme budget and apportionment of funds. (orig./CB)