A new chapter for science, business, and society is beginning in the vibrant capital region of Berlin-Brandenburg: With the founding of UNITE, the region has reached an important milestone in its efforts to promote research transfer and to support innovative startups. UNITE is backed by an impressive alliance of over 30 partner institutions—including universities, research institutions, companies, and civil society stakeholders—who are working together to transform scientific knowledge into social and economic value.

As a strategic transfer platform, UNITE combines the power of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) with a broad-based consortium of disciplines and acts as a national startup factory for research-based startups. This creates a vibrant bridge between cutting-edge research and entrepreneurial activity—a strategic network that is putting the capital city on track to become a European innovation hotspot.

The Berlin University Alliance played a key role on behalf of the Berlin-Brandenburg region and inspired everyone with the BUA mission. Important impetus for the conception and design of UNITE came from “Science & Start-ups”–the joint startup center of the BUA universities–which initiated UNITE at an early stage and played a key role in driving it forward, a contribution that was crucial to the success of the project.