The Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award 2025 – The Winner

Brain City Berlin

The winners of this year’s Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award have been announced. Five companies from the capital region were honoured for their visionary ideas and products, and another received a special award. Once again, the search was for concepts and solutions that exemplify the innovative strength and economic power of the capital region. The award carries a total prize of €75,000.

All five companies recognized at the end of November at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau (Dahme-Spreewald district) with the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award 2025 offer innovations with high practical benefits. One example is Spree Monitoring GmbH: The company has developed a monitoring system in Brain City Berlin that detects damage to building structures. It uses ultrasonic sensors (Coda Wave Interferometry, CWI) embedded in concrete, which can both send and receive signals. Even very small changes are identified early, increasing the safety of bridges, for instance. Spree Monitoring is not only highly innovative but also an example of successful knowledge transfer in Brain City Berlin. The project was funded by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, BAM) as part of the exist research transfer programme. The other award-winning companies also stand for science-driven innovations. For example, they combine the generation of green electricity from wood waste with decarbonization or use a new thermoplastic technology to connect solar cells in photovoltaics in a resource-efficient and pollutant-free way.

A total of 106 applications were submitted for the 2025 Innovation Award, 34 of which were collaborations between science and industry. Twenty-three submissions were interdisciplinary cross-cluster projects, and five projects were cross-border.

The goal of the award, jointly presented annually by the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, is to showcase innovations from the five clusters of the Joint Innovation Strategy of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg (innoBB 2025). Accordingly, the competition categories are divided into the cluster areas: Energy Technology, ICT, Media and Creative Industries, Optics and Photonics, Healthcare Industries, and transport, mobility, and logistics.

In 2025, the Innovation Award was presented for the 42nd time. To date, there have been more than 180 award winners and over 4,680 applications. Last year, 125 companies and collaborations participated in the competition. The award is supported by numerous businesses and institutions from the region. (vdo)

The 2025 Award Winners

DiGOS Potsdam GmbH (Potsdam)
Using standardized optical fibers as sensors, DiGOS makes changes in soil and infrastructure such as roads, dikes, or bridges visible in real time. Strains, temperature profiles, and vibrations can be measured precisely over many kilometers. The system strengthens the resilience of critical infrastructure, supports early warning systems, and enables sustainable planning. The patented technology is close to market launch.

pyropower GmbH (Cottbus)
The company has already been honoured with the Berlin Brandenburg Innovation Award for its externally fired micro gas turbine. Now comes the next major technological leap: The Pyro-ClinX energy system converts wood-based residues into green electricity, green heat, and biochar simultaneously using a globally unique combination of pyrolysis and micro gas turbine. The process is CO₂-negative, economical, and scalable. Combining energy generation with active decarbonization is an important step toward sustainable energy supply.

QuSinus GmbH (Potsdam)
Using innovative laser technology, the company has developed precise signal generators for high-frequency signals that are up to 100 times more accurate than previous systems. This enables faster and more stable data connections and is crucial for the expansion of modern telecommunications from 6G networks to quantum communication. The technology thus lays the foundation for even faster data and communication flows.

SOLYCO TECC GmbH (Berlin)
TECC-Connect is the world’s first cell interconnection technology for photovoltaic modules that is completely free of silver, lead, and bismuth. It replaces conventional soldering with a patented process in which plastic-coated copper wires are connected to solar cells by heating and gentle pressing. The basis for this is the innovative TECC-Coating: a thermoplastic yet conductive plastic. The technology represents a significant step toward resource-efficient and sustainable production of photovoltaic modules.

Spree Monitoring GmbH
To ensure the safety of bridges, they must be continuously monitored. This is where the innovative monitoring system comes in: By using Coda Wave Interferometry (CWI), even the smallest changes in building structures are detected with high sensitivity—much more precisely than with previous methods. This allows damage to be identified early, traffic restrictions to be reduced, and the remaining service life of bridges to be sustainably extended.

bettermarks GmbH (Berlin, Special Award)
bettermarks is an intelligent learning system that provides content for mathematics instruction (grades 4 to 12). The system responds to inputs in real time, gives individual feedback, and identifies knowledge gaps. More than 2,800 error patterns are recognized to correct mistakes in a targeted manner. In addition to adaptive exercises, bettermarks includes interactive board images and complete learning units. It is used in classrooms and for independent practice at home.

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