Forschungsverbund Berlin (FVB) is a research consortium of nine leading research institutions in the fields of health, environment and energy in Berlin, Germany. The aim of the consortium is to pool resources and expertise to solve complex problems and address grand challenges facing science and society today.
The Forschungsverbund Berlin was founded in 2009 by the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren, the Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Technische Universität Berlin and Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
With a total budget of around €300 million per year, FVB is one of Germany’s largest research consortia. The member institutions are all leaders in their respective fields: Charité is one of Europe’s largest university hospitals; DLR conducts cutting-edge aerospace research; Fraunhofer develops applied technologies for industry; Freie Universität is one of Germany’s top universities; Helmholtz comprises some of the country’s most renowned research centers; Leibniz institutes are at the forefront of scientific discovery; MDC focuses on molecular medicine; TU Berlin is a leading technical university; and Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin brings together scholars from around the world to pursue advanced research projects.
The Forschungsverbund offers an interdisciplinary environment for more than 4,000 scientists working on over 1,200 different projects across a wide range of disciplines. Areas of focus include cancer immunotherapy, solar energy conversion, quantum information processing and environmental pollution control. By pooling resources and expertise, FVB aims to find solutions to complex problems that no single institution could tackle on its own.
In addition to its basic funding from member institutions, FVB also attracts third-party funding from national and international sources such as government agencies and private foundations. This allows FVB to support even more ambitious projects with high potential impact. One recent example is “Catch me if you can – New approaches against cancer escape mechanisms” which brings together scientists from different disciplines to develop new strategies for fighting cancer cells that evade current treatments.
FVB has also established itself as a major player in European Union funded programs such as Horizon 2020 with several successful proposals led by consortium members. These programs provide an important source of funding for transnational collaborations between FVB institutes and other leading research organizations across Europe.
The Forschungsverbund Berlin plays an important role in promoting scientific excellence in Germany and making sure that German science remains competitive on a global scale. With its unique setup bringing together some of the country’s best researchers under one umbrella organization, FVB is well placed to continue making significant contributions to scientific progress into the future