“Research transfer through agility”

Brain City Berlin

With the innovate! lab, the Berlin University Alliance (BUA) aims to bring cutting-edge research into practice quickly and purposefully. Founded at the end of March, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Excellence Network comprising Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin and Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin is expected to be self-supporting in four years at the latest. The project is being funded by the Hamburg-based Joachim Herz Foundation. Dr. Alexandra-Gwyn Paetz, Managing Director of the BUA, tells us more about the objectives of the non-profit limited company in the Brain City interview. And she explains why the innovate lab! concept promises to be particularly successful in Brain City Berlin.

Dr. Paetz, the Berlin University Alliance is launching something completely new with the innovate! lab. Why now – and with what goal?

Let me expand on this a little: The institutions of the Berlin University Alliance are conducting future-oriented research at an internationally high level in all areas, not least through the promotion of excellence, and increasingly also jointly. The major social challenges are now so complex and far-reaching that they require the interaction of different perspectives, disciplines, stakeholders and institutions. On the one hand, this requires intensive cooperation in science – we are already facilitating this strategically and structurally via the BUA. On the other hand, exchange with business and society is also necessary to make the knowledge usable. Here, also, we at BUA see it as a relevant task to create structures precisely for these exchange processes. This is where the innovate! lab comes in and aims to accelerate the transfer from cutting-edge research. This ideally complements the transfer portfolio in Berlin – such as Science & Startups, the joint startup service of the BUA universities. Berlin is rightly considered one of the best innovation ecosystems in Germany.

Do you already have contacts with the business world?

Of course – that is one of the things that makes the Berlin innovation ecosystem so great. A prominent example is the joint Center for Gene and Cell Therapies, which Bayer AG and the Charité founded last year. It is a central concern of ours, also at the innovate! lab, to listen carefully: What are the specific needs of industry and business and how can we address them? This culture of engaging in dialogue early and on an equal footing is part of the BUA’s DNA. For example, we asked students in workshops: What is actually on your mind? From this, in turn, we generated research questions in dialogue with representatives from civil society and launched specific research projects that are all related to innovation.

The innovate! lab is initially focussing on the field of green chemistry. Why this field in particular?

Here, many things come together ideally in the sense of “science push” and “industry pull”. Chemistry is undoubtedly one of Berlin’s strongest research areas, especially in the context of sustainable materials and technologies. Accordingly, there are also research structures here, such as the Cluster of Excellence “Unifying Systems of Analysis” or the BMBF project “greenChem”, on which we can build. At the same time, there is a great need for solutions, including in the chemical industry itself, to switch to renewable resources and recyclable products. This combination also convinced our sponsor.

... the Joachim Herz Foundation …

Exactly. The innovate! lab will initially focus on the field of green chemistry and the Joachim Herz Foundation is very committed to the transfer of results from cutting-edge research into practice and is also interested in innovative organisational structures. In this respect, our content and structural concept was convincing, and we will validate it in parallel during the funding period. The foundation will support the development of the innovate! lab with up to five million euros over a maximum period of four years. After that, the innovate! lab will be self-supporting as a non-profit limited liability company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the BUA. For example, by participating in spin-offs or profiting from licensing revenues. If you want to ignite entrepreneurial fire, it is good to be entrepreneurially agile yourself.

The future lies in innovative DeepTech areas such as green technology. However, DeepTech requires long development times. Doesn’t this stand in the way of a rapid transfer?

That is correct, and it is precisely why enabling structures are even more important in the context of DeepTech, which quickly brings us to the mission of the BUA. For example, we have created the conditions for our researchers, regardless of their home institution, to have BUA-wide access to research, data and IT infrastructures. In this respect, scientists and their needs can come together more easily and quickly, opening up new opportunities for research and development in Berlin. This shows that we think less in terms of institutions and more in terms of locations. The same mindset can also be seen in the organisational structure of the innovate! lab. All four BUA institutions are involved via a shareholder, which enables effective and efficient coordination processes, among other things. So you can see how the BUA mission in particular can accelerate the transfer – also in the context of DeepTech. Our innovate! lab will exploit these opportunities.

The transfer processes of the innovate! lab will be scientifically monitored, evaluated, and assessed for their sustainability. How exactly should this happen?

Measuring success is clearly an integral part of our program. On the one hand, we want to find out which methods and instruments of transfer are promising and how successful they are. We not only promote spin-offs, but also the transfer to established companies, which I consider to be particularly relevant. On the other hand, we evaluate the sustainable impacts of the materials and technologies used. So we are essentially looking several levels further along the value chain. This will certainly broaden the perspective. The accompanying research will show which criteria are applied and how.

The transfer consortium UNITE, which is organised as a public-private partnership, is also in the starting blocks in Berlin. The objective is similar, but the focus is on scientific startups. The BUA universities are among the founding members. Do you see UNITE as a competitor?

On the contrary. From my perspective, UNITE will really boost the location and structure the ecosystem in Berlin-Brandenburg. I see UNITE as the large platform to which all the elements we have in Berlin’s innovation ecosystem can connect. One of Berlin’s strengths is the very high density of scientific institutions. The challenge lies in exploiting the potential of this strength and negotiating a common vision. With almost 120,000 students and 1,500 professorships, we at the BUA have a certain amount of experience in this area. And I am very confident that the public-private partnership with UNITE will enable us to pursue a shared vision of innovation and thus leverage the strengths of the ecosystem even more effectively. Therefore, I am not looking for a clear distinction from innovate! lab, but rather expect UNITE to give a real boost – also for the BUA strategy.

You define the innovate! lab as a milestone in the further development of Berlin into a leading knowledge and innovation space. Should it also provide impetus beyond Berlin?

First of all, the Berlin University Alliance is undoubtedly firmly anchored in the German capital. As a network, our structure provides impetus nationwide. One requirement of promoting excellence is to have an impact beyond one’s own location. It is also no coincidence that we have established sustainable partnerships with the universities in Oxford and Singapore through the BUA, where there are very strong innovation ecosystems. However, our tasks are all internationally interwoven – how could it be otherwise with the many global issues, such as climate protection or health. The current political situation in the US is a sad reminder of how internationally intertwined science is, even in Berlin.

Is the innovate! lab typical Berlin?

Definitely! Every innovation thrives on exchange – and where can this be done better than in Brain City Berlin. What really still fascinates me: So many top people from different fields, many with an international background, in such a small space.

Berlin-University-Alliance.de

Interview: Ernestine von der Osten-Sacken / Berlin University Alliance