We identify innovation drivers and develop innovation strategies
With four universities, Charité Universitätsmedizin, seven universities of applied sciences, four art universities and more than 30 private universities of applied sciences, Berlin is one of the world’s major locations of science and academia. The research that advances new technological developments and innovations is conducted here. It is important to inform the city’s residents about these developments. We communicate about science and research, and collaborate with rbb Inforadio, a local news station, to offer the Treffpunkt WissensWerte (Encounter what’s worth knowing) and Soup & Science event series on current topics.
Alongside information, knowledge must be successfully transferred to the city’s private sector to ensure that new findings end up in applications.
The city's small and medium-sized enterprises are investing above average in the development of new products and processes, especially in the high-tech sector and some service branches. But the spatial proximity between excellent research and the city’s typically small and medium-sized enterprises does not automatically result in successful collaboration.
Factors for successful knowledge transfer:
- Technology scouting early on
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to ensure that relevant trends are detected in time and can be used in Berlin
- Political guidance
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so that policy-makers can create fertile general conditions and develop innovation strategies
- Networks between science/academia and the private sector
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to encourage familiarity and appreciation on both sides
- Networking Berlin’s SME’s with the city’s start-up scene
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to introduce traditional sectors to the digital mindset.
Our profile has a technology scouting and political guidance focus. We regularly publish studies and reports that examine new technological trends with regard to their potential for Berlin and formulate innovation strategies for the examined fields. In recent years, we have published such studies on artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and digitalised electric cars. Our experts also regularly participate in trade events, write technical articles and are members of the decision-making bodies relevant to the themes.