The cognitive Iron Man suit
Zixio, a start-up located in the CHIC, develops tailor-made software and digital products in the field of cognitive systems and AI:
Joanna Czarnecka’s father was an entrepreneur and artist in Poland. He taught her that self-employment is hard work. Nevertheless, in 2019, she co-founded the company Zixio with Andreas Salzmann, developing…
From the lecture hall to the executive chair
Munay Zamorano took over the cosmetics company New Natural in her early 20s:
Based at the CHIC Charlottenburg Innovation Centre, New Natural sells over 1,000 certified products from ten natural cosmetics brands to perfumeries, drugstores, and online stores in more than 30 countries. Their…
“Dual leadership for the purpose of knowledge transfer”
Generation change at the Steglitz-Zehlendorf economic development agency:
In the Steglitz-Zehlendorf district, the economic development agency is facing a leadership transition. Its director, Michael Pawlik, is retiring after nearly 45 years of service. Till-Steffen Busse will follow in his…
Substitution, not cancellation
The start-up LehrCraft wants to use its placement platform to help alleviate staff shortages in schools and reduce class cancellations:
“What do teachers and clouds have in common? The day improves when they go away.” Everybody knows these types of jokes. But what if teachers really go away and regular classes cannot be guaranteed? The reasons for the…
The liberators of manufacturing
The EchoRing system from R3 Solutions enables wireless, highly reliable and extremely fast data transmission:
The Götterflug rollercoaster at Belantis, an amusement park in Leipzig, is THE attraction. This thrill ride is controlled, monitored, and secured by R3 solutions, a company based in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and its…
The future of agriculture is being grown in a cupboard
Lite&Fog aim at making plant cultivation more sustainable and efficient. Their method allows for the on-demand production of foodstuffs, as well as active ingredients for medicine and cosmetics:
Seen from afar, it looks like a green column behind glass. Moving closer, it turns out to be lettuce plants that grow in all directions along the entire length of a thick, round textile tube. Rather than reaching for…
Racing towards new drugs thanks to cell-free protein synthesis
Based in Berlin-Dahlem, the science-oriented start-up PharmaTech is unleashing new opportunities for personalised medicine:
Without proteins, life would be impossible. The macromolecules are made up of amino acids and are a key component of every living cell. Our muscles, heart, brain, skin, and hair consist predominantly of proteins.…
Good clean fun times two
DLR is working at two new institutes in Cottbus to help make industry and flying more sustainable :
Lowering CO₂ emissions is a pressing problem of our time. In Cottbus, people are working on solutions for it. Supported by funding for structural economic change, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) founded two…
In step with the times
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing also helps with making innovation ready for the market:
The brick building at the address Unter den Eichen 87 radiates history. Set in massive stone in Berlin-Lichterfelde, it demonstrates its status as a renowned government institution. “Federal Institute for Materials…
Precision made in Berlin
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany’s national metrology institute, is considered the cradle of quantum physics and tests the limits of what can be measured. The PTB’s Institut Berlin, or IB, is based in a thriving neighbourhood in Charlottenburg.:
Whenever something requires high precision, the PTB comes into play. As the national metrology institute, it is also the highest authority in Germany for all issues related to correct and reliable measurements.…
A place for talent
ST3AM in Adlershof seeks to reconcile seemingly contradictory worlds of work. Occupational psychologists are helping it succeed with a research project.:
“From research in occupational psychology, we know that the workplace and a space’s environmental factors like lighting, acoustics, and colours play an important role in determining how well, how creative, and how…
“Things will evolve”
Michael Jakobs is planning the “GREEN HUB” coworking space in Lübbenau:
Whenever something new is being built in Lübbenau, Michael Jakobs has a hand in it. He has been working for the WIS Wohnungsbaugesellschaft, a housing association in the Spree Forest, for more than 25 years, for a…
A place for working—and more
FUHUB is the newest addition to the WISTA Innovation Campus FUBIC and to Berlin’s growing, innovative Southwest. One of the first tenants is SimpliOffice, a young company operating co-working spaces and event venues. :
Cycle to the office. Take a shower before hitting the desk. Grab a quick coffee before the meeting. Go to a sports course later, take a power nap, or a play a round of foosball with the guys from the next-door office.…
AI for trade and transport of commodities
The software company Calypso Commodities develops optimisation solutions for logistics:
The world is changing. Bit by bit, fossil fuels are being replaced. But this will not happen overnight. Until renewable hydrogen creates a green commodities industry and innovative storage concepts make sun and wind…
Lasers on the field
Escarda Technologies GmbH is developing an herbicide-free alternative for weed control at CleanTech Marzahn:
Weed control using herbicides has many disadvantages: It costs worldwide agriculture a good 15 billion euros every year. This trend is increasing sharply, threatening biodiversity, and contaminating foodstuffs and…
The alphabet of the universe
Manuel Dedio has developed an “app for non-enthusiastic mathematicians”:
Although most remember him as a philosopher, Plato was one of the most important promoters of mathematics in ancient Greece. Galileo Galilei, another famous philosopher and scientist, once waxed lyrically about…
A new protective shield against viruses
A team at Freie Universität Berlin (FU) led by Professor Daniel Lauster is working on a nasal spray that wards off flu viruses:
The new FU research centre SupraFAB, short for Supramolecular Functional Architectures at Biological Interfaces, on Altensteinstrasse in Berlin Dahlem, has more to offer than its impressive architecture. On the…
Creative countermeasures
How the Marzahn-based family business LKM is tackling the search for skilled workers:
“Retirement looms,” says Kai Hessel. Almost one third of the workforce of LKM, a Berlin Marzahn-based family business, will enter retirement sooner or later and take its experience and knowledge with them. “It’s quite…
AI for additive manufacturing processes
1000 Kelvin GmbH from the Charlottenburg Innovation Centre is on a growth course with its software for selective laser sintering processes:
The company 1000 Kelvin GmbH from the Charlottenburg Innovation Centre (CHIC) is on a growth course. It uses artificial intelligence (AI) in additive manufacturing to optimise the quality of metal components and to…
Precision in Marzahn
Carlotta Baumann runs Finetech – a specialist in high-precision placement and assembly systems:
“Hello, Carlotta here,” is what the author of this article first hears from the phone. A little excited maybe, but full of energy and presence. It is seldom that one starts talking with a CEO in this way. Normally,…