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Forschungsgipfel (Headerbild) (Foto: David Ausserhofer)

Summit for Research
and Innovation 2025

November 7th, 2025
9:00 to 14:00 hrs CET

as part of the Falling Walls Science Summit
at the Falling Walls Science House, Berlin

– Invitation only –

Time to act –
For more competitiveness
in Germany and Europe 

Half a year after the start of the new German government, the Summit for Research and Innovation 2025 ("Gipfel für Forschung und Innovation 2025") offers a forum for politics, science, and business to bring current developments in research and innovation policy to the forefront of public debate. The challenges regarding Germany and Europe as research and innovation locations are not new. However, the pressure for change intensifies in a time of global upheavals, geopolitical tensions, and rapid technological developments.

Global competitors like China and the USA are investing more and with greater dynamism than Germany and Europe in research and innovation, especially in key technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and quantum technologies. Europe is becoming increasingly dependent when it comes to many critical technologies and raw materials for digital products. Tariffs and unreliable supply chains increase uncertainty for companies in Germany, Europe, and worldwide. The international exchange of knowledge is also coming under pressure: the freedom of science is being restricted in many countries, and barriers are being placed on international scientific cooperation. Cross-national research is being re-evaluated under security aspects and must prove itself anew in situations of geopolitical tension.

In this global situation, Germany and Europe must proactively set the course for sustainable and future-proof competitiveness. Under the guiding theme “Time to act – for more competitiveness in Germany and Europe,” the Summit raises critical questions and illuminates concrete solutions to the most pressing issues of our time: the capacity for transformation, cooperation, and security.

 

Programme line-up

9:00
Opening by speaker of the Falling Walls Science Summit (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek) and partners of the Summit for Research and Innovation
Moderated by Andrea Frank, Deputy Secretary General, Stifterverband
 

9:10
Keynote
Dorothee Bär, Germany's Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space 
 

9:45
Panel 1: Structural Changes in the Research and Innovation System   
moderated by Prof. Dr. Irene Bertschek, Chairwoman of the Expert Commission for Research and Innovation (EFI)

  • What structural changes in the research and innovation system are necessary for it to meet new challenges and resulting priorities?
  • How must the division of labor, cooperation structures, and existing funding models in research and innovation change so that research quickly generates more innovation?
  • What should companies – especially SMEs – do to strategically position themselves and develop successfully in an increasingly complex international market environment?
  • What must the scientific system do against the backdrop of new challenges to maintain its performance, and what fundamental structural changes are required for this?
  • How can politics initiate and support these structural changes in the research and innovation system?

Panelists:
Prof. Reinhold Geilsdörfer, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dieter Schwarz Foundation, Neckarsulm
Prof. Dr Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Munich
Thomas Jarzombek, Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and State Modernisation
Dr. Sabine Klauke, Member of the Executive Committee, Head of Digital Design Manufacturing and Services, Airbus, France
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wick, Chairman of the German Science and Humanities Council, Cologne
 

10:45
Panel 2: International Research Cooperation in a Fragmented World 
moderated by Prof. Dr. Bettina Rockenbach, President of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina 

  • How can international scientific cooperation be sustained in an increasingly fragmented world order?
  • What consequences does this have for research security, data flows, and knowledge exchange?
  • How should Germany and Europe seize opportunities to attract top researchers and strengthen their position as a hub for open and free science?
  • How does industrial research position itself within the new geopolitical context?

Panelists:
Prof. Dr. Stefan Asenkerschbaumer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Robert Bosch GmbH, Gerlingen
Prof. Dr. Hugh Brady, President, Imperial College, London
Prof. Dr. Thierry Coulhon, President of the Board of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), France
Prof. Dr. Astrid Lambrecht, General Director, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich
Prof. Dr. Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council (ERC), Brussels
 

11:45
Lunch Break
 

12:45
Panel 3: Innovation for Security – Innovation through Security
moderated by Dr. Georg Schütte, CEO of the Volkswagen Foundation

  • How is Europe positioned with regard to security-relevant research?  
  • How much cooperation between business and science takes place in security-relevant research?
  • What hinders cooperation (from cultural factors and mindsets to infrastructure and regulation)?  
  • What new structures and responsibilities are needed for this?

Panelists:
Prof. Dr. Tanja Brühl, President of the Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt
Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert, Research Director at Cyberagentur, Halle (Saale)
Dr. Thomas Mason, Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA
Dr. Chiara Pedersoli, Chairwoman of the Board, OHB System AG, Bremen
Dr. Nils Schmid, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Defence, Berlin
 

13:45
Concluding Remarks by the Partners of the Summit for Research and Innovation
 

14:00
End of the event

 
Updated October 15th, 2025

 

The Organizers of the
Summit for Research and Innovation

Die Veranstalter des Gipfels für Forschung und Innovation

as part of the

Falling Walld Science Summit

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