Sustained urban development for "Wohnen am Campus"

The construction and redevelopment projects of Berlin’s leading housing association degewo are characterised by cost-effectiveness and sound social judgement. this also applies to the new residential quarter in Adlershof. Degewo executive board member Christoph Beck explains the background. ADLERSHOF SPECIAL: Mr. Beck, what are degewo’s considerations in chosing its construction projects?CHRISTOPH BECK: Being a communal housing association,... [more]

Berlin resident is Europe's first ever finalist in Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking

Olivia Schofield rises above a pool of 30,000 contestants to reach top nine

Olivia Schofield of Berlin is Europe's first Toastmaster finalist in its 85 year history. 30,000 Toastmasters from 116 countries competed  to become the World Champion of Public Speaking. 81 semi-finalist competed in Las Vegas. Olivia Schofield, the only woman to make it through to the finals, finished as one of the top 9 speakers in the world.The speech contest marked the highlight of the four-day Toastmasters International Convention and... [more]

Interview with Prof Dr Stefan Jähnichen, Head of Fraunhofer FIRST and President of the German association of computer scientists

Adlershof Special: As the strategic technologies for 2011, the US market research company Gartner names 1) cloud computing, 2) mobile applications and media tablets, and 3) social networks. What would be your top three? Jähnichen: What we are discussing is the future of computer science, so cloud computing and social networks are, to me at least, rather “old” subjects. My top three are embedded systems, multi- and many core architectures, and... [more]

Photonics in motion: Interview with Dr Bernd Ludwig, Head of the Adlershof Photonics and Optics Centre

ADLERSHOF SPECIAL: There’s motion at the Photonics Centre in Adlershof. Is this more than just the ups and downs in the wake of the crisis and recovery? DR BERND LUDWIG: It’s not as though there had never been a crisis at all on our sector. At the final count, our company’s turnover has remained stable all in all, and in the course of this year, the economy pulled noticeably. The Photonics Centre hasn’t seen a single idle area in years, and it... [more]

“We get things moving“: Adlershof Projekt’s planning and development team create foundations

Activities include planning tasks and the clearing and development of building plots to facilitate construction works and future utilisation for working and living. Without the team’s background activities, Adlershof’s success story would not have been possible. Over the past 20 years, Adlershof has grown into an urban, vibrant business location – a development that was by no means a matter of course. In fact, an urban development concept and... [more]

The indefatigable: Chemical engineer Tatjana Čukić positively hums with inexhaustible energy

Tatjana Čukić is a genuine live wire: a many faceted perpetuum mobile with a thirst for knowledge. And it only follows that her job centres on energy: the young Serbian works as a chemical engineer at Global Solar Energy Deutschland, a producer of thin film solar cells. Tatjana Čukić has no problems about being the only woman among the eight engineers at Global Solar. As a child she preferred to wield tools with her father... [more]

Power and fuels from sunlight: When is the postfossil age due?

At present, fossil fuels still contribute over 80% of the power generated in Germany. In the process, too much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, damaging the climate. A reversal has been tabled, but what’s the energy mix going to be in the year 2050? Professor Wolfgang Eberhardt presents a variegated bouquet of possibilities for the energy mix of the future. The physicist and Scientific Director at HZB, the Berlin Helmholtz Centre... [more]

Success story Adlershof

It has now been twenty years since “liquidation” had loomed for the 5,500 employees at the Akademie’s location in Berlin Adlershof. The premises presented a bleak prospect. Many were convinced that there was going to be little left over in the wake of Reunification and the inevitable dissolution of institutes and combines. Today, two decades later, this location is now home to about 800 companies, 14,000 employees, high capacity nonuniversity... [more]

Angela Merkel's road to power...

...led her more than once to Adlershof

Few traces remain of the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry in the suburb of Adlershof, part of the East German Academy of Sciences. The campus is now a business park, and the building where Merkel had her office has been demolished. The hunt for what is left of her scientific past leads past “Knut’s Sauna Club” to a long, squat building with a glass door. On the first floor is a low-ceilinged room with six windows and an old green... [more]

Keyhole medicine and turbine inspections

The tip is occupied by the camera, hidden in the endoscope’s shaft. Designed by the Adlershof company MGB Endoskopische Geräte GmbH Berlin to help doctors gain a better view in the abdominal cavity the device presents a plain appearance: A long shaft ending in a handle from which two cables lead. Yet inside there is hitech in the minimum of space. Whereas on conventional endoscopes the camera is installed as an external component with a remote... [more]

Living environment with intelligence

Dr. Klaus-Dieter Lang, deputy director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration, on challenges, possible application and the leap from micro- to nanosystems Smart system integration is seen to be a new great challenge for Microsystems engineering. Why? Dr. Klaus-Dieter Lang: Smart system integration makes products intelligent and multifunctional, for instance wearable computing textiles fitted with communication modules... [more]