Nine days before Germany's government election, Jürgen Rüttgers, then-Minister for Education, Science, and Technology, earmarked DM5 million to fund the first year of a new plant genome project, due to start in September 1999. GABI (genome analysis of the plant biological system) aims to elucidate the Arabidopsis plant genome in the same way HUGO studied the human genome. Through a competition, companies and scientific institutes wishing to participate must apply for grants by January 4, 1999. GABI funds will go to the best proposals in structural genomics, functional genomics, applied genomics, and bioinformatics, but will also establish an infrastructure of patenting and licensing agencies to help protect intellectual property rights. Rüttgers planned GABI to run for eight years, and some industry representatives have speculated that GABI would receive as much as DM150 million funding. However, the new coalition government has a strong Green Party contingent, which may decide to change this—which is probably why Rüttgers initiated the scheme just before the general election of a new government took place over.