Science & Industry
Collaborative research
An outstanding feature of Heidelberg and the Rhein-Neckar metropolitan region as a research hub is the close collaboration between the scientific and business communities. This can be seen in the many interdisciplinary research centers, such as Heidelberg’s Technology Park, the office and laboratory buildings SkyLabs and SkyAngle in the city’s new Bahnstadt district, and in many other projects.
Achieving more through joint research
In the Industry on Campus project, Heidelberg University has entered a long-term cooperation with the region’s companies, research institutes and educational institutions. The aim of this cooperation is to improve knowledge transfer between basic and applications-oriented research – for example, within the InnovationLab research group. Together, researchers at InnovationLab in the Bahnstadt district are developing new solutions for organic electronics, a technology of the future. In the future, for example, printed electronics could be used to enable foods to convey information on shelf life, consumption, storage, location and availability all the way from the production process to the retailer and on to the consumer.
InnovationLab is part of the Organic Electronics Forum which is recognized as a leading-edge cluster by the Ministry of Education and Research. The shareholders in InnovationLab are the University of Heidelberg, Karlsruhe Institut für Technologie (KIT) and the companies BASF, SAP and Heidelberger Druckmaschinen. The cluster includes companies, universities and research institutes located in the Rhein-Neckar region. More than 100 researchers work for InnovationLab in Heidelberg. The cluster received 40 million euros over a five-year period within the framework of the leading-edge cluster competition organized by the Ministry of Education and Research. Currently, the Business Development Center for Organic Electronics is taking shape in the Patton Barracks redevelopment area: The BDCOE will offer start-up companies in high-tech fields an optimum space for innovation, allowing them to settle in Heidelberg and profit from one another.
The medicine of the future
The high concentration of companies working in life sciences has led to the emergence of a strong biotechnology sector. Some 200 partners from business, research and government work together in the Rhein-Neckar biotechnology cluster.
The cluster’s research activities focus on personalized medicine and cancer research. Its members include biotech, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, academic research and training institutes, supply firms, sector-specific service providers, local government, associations and investors. In 2008, the research cluster was one of five to be ranked as a leading-edge cluster in a national competition organized by the Ministry of Education and Research and received funding of 40 million euros between then and 2013. In 2014, the BioRN Network was a member of a consortium that won a competition for funding worth 700 million euros. In Heidelberg there are about 450 employees working in 30 biotechnology companies.
