1994
“Technologiestiftung Innovationszentrum Berlin” was entered in the foundation registry.
The statutory purpose of the foundation for technological innovation:
To support science, research and education with regard to innovative technologies from the natural and engineering sciences. The Foundation aspired to develop the Berlin-Brandenburg region into a major location in selected fields of technology.
In 2004, support for education in the natural sciences and technology became an additional statutory purpose.
It is a non-profit foundation.
Established in 1987, the predecessor foundation, Innovationszentrum Berlin (IZB), was composed of renowned, Berlin-based companies in the industrial, service and banking sectors. Based on the public-private partnership model, IZB aimed to support and fund innovation progress in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. It was merged into Technologiestiftung Innovationszentrum Berlin
As a means of advancing the Foundation’s work, Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB), the business development bank of the Federal State of Berlin, agreed to provide DM 3 million in each of the following five years as a donation to support the Foundation’s tasks. IBB assumed the responsibility for additional costs of operation as well. Land Berlin also made DM 3 million available annually.
1995 – 2000
The technology officer of Land Berlin was appointed to the Management Board; the technology officer’s tasks were merged into those of the Technologiestiftung.
For fiscal reasons, the organisational and legal structures of the Technologie-Vermittlungs-Agentur (TVA), Berlin’s agency for technology transfer, were merged with the Technologiestiftung to become TSB Technologiestiftung Innovationsagentur Berlin GmbH (TSB GmbH). TSB GmbH took over the key business-based tasks of the TVA. Amounting to approximately DM 1 million, the assets of the non-profit TVA were added to the endowment as a donation. The Chairman of the Technologiestiftung Board managed the business of TSB GmbH together with another Managing Director in the years thereafter. From time to time, however, the Chairman of the Foundation Board managed TSB GmbH alone.
Machbarkeitsstudie ZEE (Zero emission engine feasibility study) was the first project to receive funding from the Technologiestiftung. The funds provided by the Foundation were co-financed from the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD).
The Technologiestiftung was one of the winners of the EU competition Regional Innovation Technology Transfer Strategies and drew up a study for Berlin.
Using the study results, the Technologiestiftung developed its “clusters of competence strategy” and implemented it by founding initiatives to advance the application-orientated research and joint projects in technology fields (clusters of competence) in which Berlin was particularly strong:
- BioTOP (biotechnology)
- FAV Forschungs- und Anwendungsverbund Verkehrssystemtechnik (transportation system technology)
- TSBmedici (medical technology)
- ProT.I.M.E (information and communications technology).
The TSB Förderverein Technologiestiftung Berlin e. V. was established as an association to support the work of the Technologiestiftung.
In 2000, the ProT.I.M.E initiative was spun off under the name “Timekontor”.
2001 – 2013
Structure
From the partial privatisation of Berliner Wasserbetriebe, the city waterworks utility, the Technologiestiftung receive a donation from Land Berlin in the amount of DM 60 million. That donation satisfied the previous annual donation from Berlin’s city administration. The annual amount financed by IBB was converted into a grant in accordance with Section 44 of the State Budget Ordinance.
The Technologiestiftung became the trustee of the newly established Zukunftsfonds Berlin, a fund for supporting technology projects in the region, until it was integrated into ProFIT, the IBB funding programme for Berlin.
The Technologiestiftung became a founding shareholder of Kompetenzzentrum Wasser Berlin, a non-profit company with the mission of safeguarding and expanding expertise in research around water.
After an external audit in 2002, the revenue office and audit authority refused to continue to recognise the Technologiestiftung as a non-profit company, as many of its activities could be classified as business development. However, after several years of negotiations with the Senate Department of Finance, the Foundation’s non-profit status was confirmed. In return, from 2007 all initiatives were transferred to TSB GmbH.
Work
The Technologiestiftung Berlin was a leading participant in the formulation and coordination of the Joint Innovation Strategy of the States of Berlin and Brandenburg, which began its implementation phase in 2011 and is binding for all governments in both states. The Technologiestiftung managed the clusters defined in the strategy.
Using foundation income, the Foundation funded more than 30 projects with a budget of around € 10 million. Its operational activities were the Foundation’s second priority, as the state had launched various funding programmes for innovation projects. Among the funded projects were many that added a great deal of momentum to Berlin as a location for innovation. Selected examples:
- Long Night of the Sciences
- Endokrinologisches Forschungs-Centrum (endocrinology research centre) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
- DGF Research Center MATHEON “Mathematics for Key Technologies”
- Schülerlabornetzwerk GenaU (GenaU: Gemeinsam für naturwissenschaftlich-technischen Unterricht) laboratory network for schools
Treffpunkt Wissenswerte (Encounters in science) was established as an event series on applied research. Today, it is still being broadcast on Inforadio, a local news radio station, to warm response.
The phase ended when TSB GmbH was fused with Berlin’s Economic Development Agency in the 3rd quarter of 2013. Berlin Partner for Business and Technology, a unique public-private partnership in which the Technologiestiftung still has a participation of 30% today, emerged from the fusion.
2014 – 2022
After the fusion, TSB had 15 employees (before, the Foundation and TSB GmbH had approx. 100 in total). The IBB cut its funding for the Foundation from € 950 K in 2014 to € 600 K from 2016. The budget no longer includes EFRD funds.
TSB Technologiestiftung Innovationszentrum changed its name to Technologiestiftung Berlin.
In 2015, the Technologiestiftung made it possible for children and youths to experience hacking and coding with its circulating Hacking Box. The project received an award from the Germany – Land of Ideas initiative in 2015.
The Technologiestiftung orientated its strategy to digitalisation using the tagline: Alles wird digital.
Alles – Wir helfen, den digitalen Wandel zu gestalten (Everything is going digital. Everything – We help to shape the digital transformation).
That year, the Technologiestiftung and Berliner Wasserbetriebe each took over a 50% partnership interest in the Kompetenzzentrum Wasser and reoriented the Centre’s research activity to the digitalisation of water management and infrastructure.
In 2017, the Technologiestiftung used funds from Berlin’s Senate Department for Finance, Energy and Business to establish the Berlin Open Data Information Office for Berlin’s city administration.
The Technologiestiftung fine-tuned its strategy in 2018 and focused on open, collaborative innovation processes.
Since that time, the Technologiestiftung has supported the actors in Berlin’s cultural scene in the digitalisation of processes and use of digital tools through the kulturBdigital - Digitale Entwicklung des Kulturbereichs project, financed by the Senate Administration for Culture and Europe.
With funding from the Senate Chancellery, CityLAB Berlin was opened in 2019 as a public laboratory for experimentation for the City of the Future on historical Platz der Luftbrücke square.
In 2021, the Senate Chancellery commissioned the Technologiestiftung to supervise Berlin’s smart city process, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Alongside its projects, the Technologiestiftung continues to identify potential for new technological developments in Berlin. It publishes studies on smart city themes and technological trends such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and the Internet of Things. In addition, it publishes an annual innovation survey that documents the innovation activity in the city.
Technologiestiftung Berlin currently has an annual budget of approx. € 5 million. Sixy-five employees work for the type of urban development in Berlin that is orientated to the common good and a vibrant, transparent urban society in which all groups have access to the data that the city acquires and uses to guide the way its residents coexist.
