New innovate! lab” in Berlin: Research meets practice for sustainable solutions!

New innovate! lab” in Berlin: Research meets practice for sustainable solutions!

On April 2, 2025, the "innovate! lab gGmbH" was founded by the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) and the Joachim Herz Foundation. The aim of this initiative is to strengthen the transfer of cutting-edge research into practice, particularly in chemistry. The newly founded methods laboratory will test promising transfer approaches and scientifically examine their success factors in order to efficiently promote complex innovation processes. These findings are intended to promote the transfer of excellent research results into sustainable materials and technologies.

The Joachim Herz Foundation is supporting the “innovate! lab” with up to 5 million euros over a period of four years. The foundation has set itself the task of overcoming systemic hurdles in transfer and developing sustainable institutional role models. The "innovate! lab" combines the approaches of "Science Push" and "Industry Pull", with the plan to test up to ten transfer projects from chemistry.

Innovation ecosystems in Germany

The founding of the "innovate! lab" fits into the federal government's broader strategy, which aims to efficiently convert scientific findings into innovations. Although Germany has a strong research landscape, it sees challenges in transferring scientific results into practice. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) promotes the development of innovation ecosystems in order to create networks from science, business and civil society that support the application of research results.

An example of such initiatives is the Ocean Technology Campus in Rostock, which researches sustainable ocean technologies in the context of a global innovation network. Such clusters, like the STIMULATE research campus in Magdeburg, where new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are being developed, play an important role in creating jobs and adding value in burgeoning fields of innovation. STIMULATE was even awarded the Hugo Junkers Prize for the most innovative applied research project.

German Agency for Transfer and Innovation

In order to improve knowledge transfer, the German Agency for Transfer and Innovation (DATI) was founded. This agency aims to make the German transfer and innovation system more agile and effective. DATI will involve all relevant transfer actors and strengthen the transfer culture in Germany. The agency relies on de-bureaucratized, agile and digital structures as well as needs-based funding offers.

DATI will be founded as an independent federal agency and will pursue an innovative approach to strengthen transfer and innovation. Core tasks include networking transfer partners and creating new funding projects that are intended to provide application-oriented research. With funding projects like DATIpilot, almost 3,500 sketches have already been submitted for future funding, which illustrates the need for tailored support.

The success of these initiatives, including the "innovate! lab", could help to significantly increase Germany's competitiveness and future viability by quickly converting research results into socially useful applications. However, the challenges of transferring scientific knowledge into application continue to be the focus of national innovation policy.

The founding of the "innovate! lab" and the strategic initiatives of the BMBF and DATI reflect a strong commitment to promoting research and its practical application in order to develop sustainable solutions for future challenges. Germany has the potential to further expand its innovative strength as long as cooperation between science, industry and society is constantly promoted.

For further information about the initiative and its impact on the innovation landscape in Germany, see fu-berlin.de, bmbf.de and bmbf.de.