Study and research in Germany

German Research Institutions at a Glance

This site gives you a brief insight into the scope of the major research institutions and research funding organizations in Germany. At a glance, you will find the core data relating to the profiles, tasks and goals of these institutions:

• Fraunhofer Society
• Hermann von Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers
• Leibniz Association
• Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science
• Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
• German Research Foundation

Fraunhofer Society

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (FhG)
Fraunhofer Society
Hansastrasse 27c,
D-80686 Munich,
Germany
www.fraunhofer.de 

Year of Foundation:
Fraunhofer was founded in 1949 to harness scientific knowledge and technological expertise.

Mission:
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft undertakes applied research of direct utility to private and public enterprise and of wide benefit to society. Its services are solicited by customers and contractual partners in industry, the service sector and public administration. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft maintains roughly 80 research units, including 58 Fraunhofer Institutes, at over 40 different locations throughout Germany. A staff of some 12,500, predominantly qualified scientists and engineers, works with an annual research budget of over one billion euros. Of this sum, more than € 900 million is generated through contract research. Roughly two thirds of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s contract research revenue is derived from contracts with industry and from publicly financed research projects. The remaining one third is contributed by the German federal and Länder governments, partly as a means of enabling the institutes to pursue more fundamental research in areas that are likely to become relevant to industry and society in five or ten years’ time.

Hermann von Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers

Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF)
Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers
Ahrstrasse 45,
D-53175 Bonn,
Germany
www.helmholtz.de 

Year of Foundation:
Originally founded in 1970, renamed Helmholtz in 1995, restructuring as registered association in 2001.

Organizational Structure:
Registered association with 15 legally independent member centers throughout Germany. Program-oriented funding: Scientists develop research programs for each of the research fields. The review of these programs by international experts forms the basis for funding. The budget of € 2.2 billion comes from the federal government (90%) and the Länder (10%). 30% of the budget takes the form of third party funding.

President: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Jürgen Mlynek

Functions and Objectives:
Helmholtz contributes to solving great challenges which face society, science and industry by performing top-rate research in strategic programs. Helmholtz researches systems of great complexity with its large-scale facilities and scientific infrastructure, cooperating closely with national and international partners. Helmholtz contributes to shaping our future by combining research and technology development with innovative applied and forward-planning perspectives.

Priorities:
Research fields: energy, earth and environment, health, key technologies, structure of matter, transport and space.

Number of Persons or Projects Supported:
24,000 staff working on 30 research programs in 6 research fields.

Highlights:

• Research with super-microscopes e.g. the electron-proton collider HERA, the new x-ray laser X-FEL, the planned International Accelerator Facility.
  
• Research network “Integrated Earth Observing System”
  
• Virtual institute “Key Materials for Lightweight Construction”

Leibniz Association

Leibniz-Gemeinschaft (WGL)
Leibniz Association
Eduard Pflüger-Straße 55,
D-53113 Bonn,
Germany
www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de

Year of Foundation: 1995

Organizational Structure:
Association of 84 scientifically, legally and economically independent research institutes and service facilities.

Functions and Objectives:
Leibniz Institutes are demand-oriented, interdisciplinary centers of competence and cooperation partners for industry, public administration and politics. Scientific cooperation with universities is particularly close and intensive. The research work carried out and services provided are of national significance and international reputation.

Priorities:
Leibniz Institutes undertake interdisciplinary scientific work in the fields of: humanities and educational research; economics, social sciences, regional infrastructure research; life sciences; mathematics, natural sciences, engineering; environmental research.

The umbrella organization coordinates the mutual interests of the associate institutes, representing these in public. It strengthens scientific cooperation, promotes up-and-coming academics and is responsible for the development of a comprehensive system of quality management.

Number of Persons or Projects Supported:
12,500 employees (5,100 academics); the institutes are funded by both the Federal Government and the German “Länder”.

Highlights:
System of quality management: In a unique process, every institute is assessed externally at regular intervals by independent experts. Stifterverband Research Prize 2003 for Anna Wobus, one of Germany’s renowned stem cell experts.

Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Wissenschaften e.V. (MPG)
Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science
Hofgartenstrasse 8,
D-80539 Munich,
Germany
www.mpg.de 

Year of Foundation:
The Max Planck Society was founded in 1948 to succeed the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, which was founded in 1911.

Organizational Structure:
The Max Planck Society is a non-profit organization under private law in the form of a registered association.

Functions and Objectives:
The primary goal of the Max Planck Society is to promote cutting-edge research at its own research institutes.

Priorities:
The research institutes of the Max Planck Society perform basic research of highest quality in the public interest in natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. In particular, the Max Planck Society takes up new and innovative research areas in order to supplement research carried out by the German universities.

Number of Persons or Projects Supported:
In ca. 80 institutes, research centers, laboratories and project groups of the Max Planck Society approx. 12,000 staff members are working, among them more than 4,000 scientists and scholars. In addition, there are each year approx. 10,000 student assistants, Ph.D. students, post docs, and guest scientists. Approx. 50 % of the Ph.D. students, post docs, guest scientists and student assistants come from abroad.

Highlights:

• 16 Nobel laureates since 1948
  
• More than 12,500 scientific publications in 2003 (57 in nature, 48 in Science = one third of all German publications in these journals)
  
• ISI (Institute of Scientific Information) list of most cited scientists includes 35 researchers of the Max Planck Society

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (AvH)
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Jean-Paul-Str. 12,
D-53173 Bonn,
Germany
www.humboldt-foundation.de 

Year of Foundation: 1953

Organizational Structure:
Non-profit foundation

Functions and Objectives:
Research fellowships and research awards for highly qualified postdoctoral scholars and scientists to spend extended periods of research in Germany and to maintain the ensuing academic and cultural contacts.

Priorities:
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is an independent and impartial organization. Its programs are open to applicants from all countries and all academic disciplines.

Number of Persons or Projects Supported:

• Up to 600 research fellowships each year
  
• Up to 150 research awards each year
  
• Up to 150 fellowships for young German scientists each year
  
• Additional specific programs

Highlights:

• “Once a Humboldtian, always a Humboldtian”: initial sponsorship is followed by life-long contacts
  
• Follow-up sponsorship includes: funding for additional subsequent research stays in Germany, support for attending academic conferences, printing costs, and alumni meetings abroad
  
• Active worldwide network of more than 23,000 fellows
  
• 40 Humboldtians received Nobel Prizes

German Research Foundation

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
German Research Foundation
Kennedyallee 40,
D-53175 Bonn,
Germany
www.dfg.de

Year of Foundation:
The “Notgemeinschaft der Wissenschaft“ (Provisional Association of German Science) of 1920 merged with the “Deutscher Forschungsrat“ (German Research Council) in 1952 to form the DFG.

Organizational Structure:
The DFG is an association under private law. Its members are German universities and non-university research institutions.

Functions and Objectives:
The DFG is the self-governing body of the German scientific community. It serves all branches of science and the humanities by funding research projects and facilitating cooperation among researchers.

Priorities:
The DFG is devoted to promoting young scientists and to supporting international collaboration in all its programs.

Number of Persons or Projects Supported:
Currently the DFG supports some 25,000 projects.

Highlights:
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is the highest honor awarded in German research and aims to improve the working conditions of outstanding scientists and academics. DFG Research Centers are an important strategic funding instrument to concentrate scientific research competence in particularly innovative fields and create internationally visible research priorities at German universities. The Emmy Noether Program enables outstanding junior researchers to gain the qualifications required for a university teaching career. Research Training Groups are university training programs established for a specific time period to support young researchers in their pursuit of a doctorate. International Research Training Groups provide opportunities for joint doctoral training between a group at a German university and a partner group at a foreign university.

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• Central and Eastern Europe
• Latin America
• North America
• Northern Africa and the Middle East
• Western Europe