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Berlin as Leading Research Hub

DFG Funding Atlas for 2018: Berlin leads in funding and is favorite location in Germany

News from Jul 04, 2018

On Thursday the German Research Foundation (DFG) together with the Donors’ Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany (Stifterverband) presented the current funding rankings. Data from universities and other research institutions for the period from 2014 to 2016 were evaluated in the eighth edition of the Funding Atlas. Berlin stands out as a particularly good region both in terms of the amount of DFG grants as well as the strong links between universities and other research institutions.

The evaluation shows that between 2014 and 2016, Berlin gained the highest number of DFG approvals with a total of 794.1 million euros. This places Berlin ahead of the metropolitan region of Munich, which received nearly 100 million euros less. The DFG also rated very positively the strong network of university and other research institutions connected with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the joint medical school of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. As far as DFG grants for university medical facilities are concerned, Charité is the nationwide leader with 117 million euros.

In the humanities and social sciences, Freie Universität and Humboldt-Universität are front runners. Technische Universität Berlin is also successful in the humanities and social sciences; in comparison with the other technical universities, it receives the second highest DFG funding share in these subject areas. The successes of Berlin’s major universities are mainly due to many joint projects and excellence clusters. The DFG sees this as making an important contribution to local and national networks, not only between members of different institutions, but also between differing fields. An important role is played here by links to the University of Potsdam, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB). A good prerequisite for successful cooperation is the number of non-university research institutions in and around Berlin as a whole. For example, twelve research institutions in Berlin alone received funds for humanities-related DFG projects during the grant period. Technische Universität Berlin is among the ten best universities for DFG funding in natural sciences and engineering.

Berlin benefits from a well-developed, non-university infrastructure, which provides an important basis for DFG joint projects in particular. This also makes the city an attractive location for international scholars in the humanities as well as social scientists. This is reflected in the large number of individuals supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), or the European Research Council. All three major Berlin universities are among the top 15 most frequently chosen universities in Germany for scholars from abroad.

In the case of project funding by the federal government, Berlin also takes first place, ahead of Munich, with a total of 900 million euros, with information and communication technology as well as health research being the most heavily funded areas. For example, Technische Universität Berlin ranks first in information and communication sciences for federal funding and second in the Horizon 2020 program of the European Union.

 The English version is provisionally scheduled to appear in the second quarter of 2019.

Press Contacts:

Goran Krstin
Press Spokesperson for the President
Freie Universität Berlin
tel: +49 30 838-731 06
e-mail: goran.krstin@fu-berlin.de

Hans-Christoph Keller
Spokesperson, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Head of the Office of Press and Public Relations
tel: +49 30 2093-2345
e-mail: pr@hu-berlin.de

Stefanie Terp
Press Spokesperson, Technische Universität Berlin
Office for Press, Public Relations and Alumni
tel: +49 30 314-23922
e-mail: pressestelle@tu-berlin.de

Manuela Zingl
Press Officer
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
tel: +49 30 450 570 400
e-mail: presse@charite.de