Frau an einem Mikroskoparbeitsplatz
© WFBB

Room for Science and Research

With three universitiesfive universities of applied sciences, the oldest German (and internationally renowned) film university and numerous extramural research institutes, the state of Brandenburg boasts a potent science and research structure.

Lausitz (Film)

Together with Berlin, Brandenburg ranks among Europe’s regions with the highest concentration of research activities. Altogether there are 57 higher education institutions and about 200 public and private research institutes including 21 institutes of the Leibniz Society, 6 Fraunhofer institutes, 8 Max Planck institutes and 7 institutes of the Herrmann von Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, as well as a dozen federal research institutes.

The highly specialised scientific and research institutes can also act as transfer and cooperation partners for regional and supra-regional businesses.

Transfer of knowledge and technologies

The transfer of knowledge and technologies is of vital importance in Brandenburg. It is the root of numerous advantages and mutual complementarities for the economic community as well as for the scientific community. The innovation capabilities of Brandenburg’s businesses are being strengthened through scientific expertise, which is being used for new products and processes. Moreover, the higher education institutions can use their relations with the economic sector to further develop their research and teaching activities in a manner that has strong real-life relevance and brings groundbreaking technologies quickly to the market.

There are different forms when it comes to the transfer of knowledge and technologies. The most common forms of cooperation between the scientific community and the business community are research collaborations, research papers and final theses as well as dissertations (in cooperation with businesses), but cooperation also takes place in the form of personnel transfer (for example through internships in companies and the employment of student trainees), the establishment of endowed chairs by businesses as well as in the form of start-ups and patents based on inventions by higher education institutions.

In the state of Brandenburg a technology transfer centre can be found at every higher education institution. It grants direct access to the most recent research findings and information on scientists and their current research topics. The Cluster teams of Brandenburg Invest gather the innovation needs of the businesses and mediate contacts to the relevant higher education institutions. This creates a highly efficient, quick and needs-based technology transfer.