What’s new in Brain City Berlin?

© Berlin Partner / Elvina Kulinicenko

10.11.2025
Showcases, Hubs and Innovation Platforms: What’s new in Brain City Berlin?

Brain City Berlin

Berlin Science Week one again made it visible: Brain City Berlin is one of Europe’s leading science hubs. And it continues to grow and evolve. In recent weeks, construction began on three prominent research buildings in Berlin, and another was officially opened. Here’s an overview.

#ai_berlin hub – a central contact point for Berlin’s AI ecosystem

Brain City Berlin already hosts two national AI competence centers: the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD). Numerous university institutes, non-university institutions, and corporate hubs are also engaged in researching, developing, and applying artificial intelligence in Berlin. Many of the city’s AI start-ups have emerged as spin-offs from research. The #ai_berlin hub, which opened on October 22 near Görlitzer Park, aims to become the central contact point for the various players in the field. Located on the CIC Berlin innovation and start-up campus, the hub is intended to serve as a guide, platform, and showcase for Berlin’s AI ecosystem. The aim is to strengthen Berlin’s AI landscape in the long term and position it globally. Researchers, start-ups, and companies can network at the #ai_berlin hub with each other and with representatives from politics, culture, and society. They can access information and will be purposefully connected to application areas such as health, manufacturing, or mobility. The Senate Department for Economics Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises is supporting the project in 2025 with €725,000. Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie is tasked with making the hub sustainable – closely aligned with the needs of Berlin’s economy.

ai.berlin.com/hub

FUBIC – Innovation center and “milestone”

Just one day later, on October 23, 2025, the FUBIC celebrated its topping-out ceremony. The “Business and Innovation Center next to Freie Universität Berlin Campus” is being built in Dahlem, right next to the FU Berlin campus, as the name tells. Spread across five floors and approximately 30,000 square meters, up to 80 technology-oriented start-ups and young companies from the life sciences, healthcare, and IT sectors will work here in the future. The former American military hospital has been renovated and expanded for this purpose. The FUBIC building is the heart of a new innovation campus in Berlin-Dahlem, which will also include six privately financed office and laboratory buildings. At the same time, FUBIC forms the core of the Berlin SÜDWEST future location. Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs Franziska Giffey emphasized the significance of FUBIC as a “milestone” on Berlin’s path to becoming Europe’s number one innovation hub. The building is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026. The developer is the state-owned WISTA Management GmbH.

FUBIC Innovation Center

A new building for the German Heart Center of Charité – “Healing architecture” across 17 floors

A milestone for Berlin’s growing healthcare sector is the new building for the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité (DHZC). In early October, the foundation stone was symbolically laid on the grounds of the Virchow-Klinikum for a new facility that aims to set new standards in cardiac medicine with its sophisticated infrastructure. The approximately 70-meter-high building is designed as a superlative: spread across 17 floors and offering around 30,000 square meters of usable space, it will house 20 modern operating rooms, hybrid ORs, cardiac catheter labs, and 320 patient beds. It will also include an integrated emergency department and a new sterile supply unit that can be used across campus. The architecture of the new building follows the philosophy of “Healing Architecture”: the space is intended to make patients, staff, and visitors feel comfortable. The new DHZC is scheduled to open in summer 2029.

dhzc.charite.de

TULIUM – a new public spot in Brain City Berlin

Another exciting construction project was launched this week in Brain City Berlin. On Monday, November 10, the foundation stone was laid for the TULIUM on the TU Berlin campus in Charlottenburg. The new transfer and exhibition building is designed as an open space for experimentation, dialogue, and sustainable science communication, making research tangible. At its core are the significant mineralogical collections of TU Berlin, which will be made publicly accessible as a permanent exhibition. As a central location on campus, TULIUM will also promote exchange and discussion on current and socially relevant future issues. There are also plans for outdoor exhibition and event spaces surrounding the building. A knowledge trail with analog and digital stations will foster knowledge exchange with society. The opening of TULIUM is scheduled for 2027.

TULIUM (German only)

Not to be forgotten: At the end of September, the groundbreaking ceremony for the “Chemical Invention Factory” was held on the TU Berlin campus. Europe’s largest laboratory infrastructure for transfer teams in the field of green chemistry is expected to be completed by the end of 2027. Read our article. (vdo)