Tackling Grand Challenges: The future will be good
Our mission for the Adlershof Science City was initially to create jobs. We have fulfilled this mission. Today, more than 35,000 people work and study in Germany’s most modern technology park. And Adlershof has built up an excellent international reputation over the past three decades.
The task now is to make creative contributions to mastering the major global technological challenges together with the people who work here and by making full use of the excellent infrastructure culture. We would like to join the goal of Berlin's three major universities and the Charité, which have set out to “jointly shape Berlin as an integrated research space that is particularly dedicated to addressing global challenges – Grand Challenges”.
To this end, we want to create a network for researchers and companies to cooperate on an interdisciplinary basis. The development and use of new materials and technologies will be crucial to solving such challenges, which include climate change in particular.
Our response to the global challenges
Adlershof is a strong location. But how will the campus develop further?
The five main questions are:
- What are the goals?
- How does Adlershof see itself as part of the Science City Berlin?
- What is the significance of ‘Grand Challenges’?
- How can the coordination of science and politics be improved?
- How to deal with the space?
WISTA Management GmbH, as the operating company of the technology park, sets clear thematic priorities. It remains important for the further successful positioning to attract future-oriented companies that focus on the major societal challenges, the “Grand Challenges”, such as sustainability, climate protection and energy.
A new interdisciplinary competence center for “Grand Challenges”, complementing the existing technology centers, should help in this and also promote internationalization, because the big questions of the future can only be answered with global cooperation. Increased support for start-ups is also an integral part of this strategy for the future.
The Adlershof Mission “Grand Challenges” has begun. Join us!
Focus Topics
Grand Challenges that we are tackling in Adlershof:
>>Climate Protection and Energy
Climate protection requires an international energy turnaround for an efficient and resilient energy system.
The use of ICT infrastructures and digitization tools will be crucial for this.
>>Circular Materials Management
Resource scarcity and environmental consequential damage make intelligent circular economy a requirement of sustainable economics.
>>5G and Digital Infrastructure
We want to turn the Adlershof Technology Park into a real-world laboratory for digitalization. The digital networking in the Technology Park is already unique within a radius of almost 1,000 kilometers.
Grand Challenges: What's going on in Adlershof...?
Articles
Joint power instead of duplicate structures
The research community in Berlin is pooling its computing power for AI and data research:
Berlin’s research community is further advancing its research excellence by establishing a high-performance, cross-institutional infrastructure for data and AI. With a joint agreement signed on 18 September 2026, the…
New greenhouse gas report identifies main sources of emissions at HZB
Research institute presents greenhouse gas inventory and certification for its energy management system:
For many years, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has been committed to resource-efficient research and working practices. The centre has set itself the goal of becoming greenhouse gas neutral by 2035. To this end,…
New findings on the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries
Distribution of lithium isotopes serves as a ‘fingerprint’ for aging processes:
The service life of lithium-ion batteries is limited by complex aging processes, the causes of which are often difficult to distinguish from one another. Researchers at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and…
New insights into sodium transport in sodium-ion batteries
Measurements reveal movements and chemical changes in the material:
Sodium-ion batteries are regarded as a promising alternative to today’s lithium-ion batteries. Sodium is widely available and could play an important role, particularly in large-scale stationary energy storage…
Modular concept brings rail and road transport closer together
The EU project Pods4Rails has developed new approaches to connected mobility:
As part of the EU Pods4Rail project, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has developed an innovative, automated mobility concept together with collaborators from research and…
