Call for Application: Campus Club – Idea to Action
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Campus Club Adlershof
Campus Club – Idea to Action
A Greenhouse for Curious Minds
Do you have an idea inspired by your research or expertise, but are not yet sure where it could lead?
Idea to Action is a three-month programme that helps researchers clarify an early idea, explore its potential and define a concrete next step.
You do not need a finished concept, business model or startup plan. You need an initial idea related to your professional background, curiosity and the motivation to work on it.
Applications open: 19.08.2026
Application deadline: 02.10.2026
Participation: Free of charge
Places: Approximately 15
Programme language: English
Apply now
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What will you do?
You will spend three full days in a comfortable and trusted work environment where you do your work in a home office like setting, loosened up and enriched by communication with innovation minded people about one idea of your own choosing.
- Shape your idea
Clarify the idea, the problem or opportunity behind it, and who it could be relevant for. - Explore its potential
Examine possible users, benefits, application contexts, barriers and pathways. - Define your next step
Choose a realistic direction and identify the actions, contacts and resources required to move forward.
Between the sessions, you will continue thinking about and developing your idea through manageable assignments, targeted feedback and support from the organising partners.
What will you gain?
You will get to experience a different work environment with non-violent communication and no expected deliverables in a comfortable and trusted setting getting to know other innovation minded people exploring an idea of your own choosing.
By the end of the programme, you will have:
- a clearer and more structured idea
- a better understanding of its possible relevance and value
- feedback from peers, experts and potential support structures
- greater clarity about open assumptions and barriers
- possible contacts, programmes or partners for the next phase
- a practical plan for moving forward
Your next step could be a collaboration, pilot project, service, funding opportunity, further validation, entrepreneurial project or another suitable form of application. We will connect you with partners in our networks.
Is this programme for you?
Idea to Action is designed for researchers and research-oriented professionals who:
- have an initial idea connected to their research, expertise, methods or professional observations
- want to explore its potential beyond their immediate research context
- are looking for feedback and alternative perspectives
- are open to work actively on the idea over three months
- do not yet have a clear pathway for moving it forward
Applicants from across Berlin are welcome. You do not need to be based in Adlershof.
What kind of idea can you bring?
Your idea may be at a very early stage.
It could begin as:
- a potential solution for a problem you have observed
- an unmet need
- a possible application of research or technology
- a new use for a method, dataset or area of expertise
- a service or collaboration idea
- an initial hypothesis that still needs to be tested
Early, unfinished, and not polished ideas are explicitly welcome.
The idea should be specific enough to describe the essence of it very briefly, and substantial enough to spend some time discussing and evaluating it throughout the programme.
The idea shall neither include any business secrets, nor any confidential information, nor any information that could be part of an application for new intellectual property rights (IP), nor any information that infringes upon pre-existing IP.
How the programme works
Idea to Action combines three full-day working sessions combined with coworking and optional targeted support between sessions.
Each session includes short inputs, practical exercises, individual work, peer exchange and feedback.
1. Shape your idea — 11 November 2026 — ST3AM Adlershof
Clarify where your idea comes from, what problem or opportunity it addresses, for whom and in which context it may be relevant, and which assumptions still need to be explored.
2. Explore its potential — 9 December 2026 — ST3AM Adlershof
Examine possible users, value, existing alternatives, barriers, application contexts, development pathways, and implementation partnerships.
3. Define your next step — 20 January 2027 — LEAP Adlershof
Review what you have learned, choose a realistic direction and define the actions, contacts and resources needed to move forward.
Coworking and support
Between the main sessions, the coworking environment the programme is embedded in gives you space to continue to discuss and develop your idea further, exchange views with other participants, and receive informal feedback and advice from the organising team.
The programme partners may also connect you with relevant experts, programmes, contacts, support structures, and partners beyond the programme to take things further, if you wish to do so.
Attendance at the three main sessions is required.
What we expect from you
Idea to Action is a working programme, not a lecture series.
To benefit from it, you should be prepared to:
- attend all three programme sessions
- consistently focus on and pursue one idea
- complete manageable tasks between the sessions
- discuss your thinking openly while protecting confidential details
- give and receive constructive feedback
- reconsider assumptions and adapt your idea where necessary
You do not need to have all the answers. You do need to be willing to ask the right questions and act on what you learn.
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How to apply
Your application should include:
- a current CV for each applicant
- one joint description of the idea, approximately half a page up to a maximum of one page
In your idea description, please briefly explain:
- how the idea relates to your research or professional work
- what the idea is and where it could potentially be applied
- how you came up with it and why you would like to explore it further
- how the members of the group are connected to the idea, if applying as a team
Please send your application by email to: Idea-action(at)helmholtz-berlin.de
Please do neither include any business secrets, nor any confidential information, nor any information that could be part of an application for new intellectual property rights (IP), nor any information that infringes upon pre-existing IP in your application.
Applications may be submitted individually or as a group of up to three people.
Please send all documents as one PDF file and use the following subject line:
Application – Idea to Action – [Name / Team name]
Application deadline: 02.10.2026
Approximately 15 participants will be selected based on their motivation, programme fit, commitment and openness to developing their idea. You will receive a confirmation once your application has been received. Selected applicants will be contacted mid of October 2026.
Apply now
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Our working philosophy
Idea to Action supports civilian and socially responsible applications of research. We provide a respectful, trust-based, non-violent and free of pressure workspace. It is of utmost importance for this programme that all communication be at eye-level, regardless of professional background, faith, geographic origin, ancestry, cultural background, gender, or skin colour.
We welcome ideas that aim to create economic, societal, environmental or institutional value. Ideas whose primary purpose is military, weapons-related or defence-oriented fall outside the scope of the programme.
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About Idea to Action
Campus Club – Idea to Action is a joint programme by:
- WISTA Management
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin Transfer Office
- Humboldt-Innovation
- Further partners under consideration, tbd
The programme is implemented under the umbrella of Campus Club Adlershof.
Questions?
Dr. Paul Harten
Head of Technology Transfer and Innovation
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Rawad Chammas
Knowledge Transfer Manager
WISTA Management GmbH
chammas(at)wista.de
Apply now