A highly-developed university and research landscape plus innovative companies shape the scientific-research system in Germany. The high quality of academic training "Made in Germany" is recognized worldwide. More than 100 research universities train 70% of the students in Germany. With more than 250,000 scientists and investigators working here, Germany is the world's third-largest "country of researchers".

The strengths of German research traditionally lie in mechanical engineering, chemistry, medicine, physics and mathematics. Some disciplines of the humanities also play an outstanding role. German scientists and research institutes are world leaders in biomedicine and medical engineering, in environmental research and automotive engineering, and in engineering, in general.

But German scientists and researchers also play their part in the world's top groups in the future fields of optical technologies, Microsystems engineering, neurosciences, biotechnology and process engineering. In 2003, more than 13,000 German inventions were patented throughout Europe, meaning that almost one quarter of all European patents are based on developments made by German scientists. And Germany actually comes 1st in the field of nanotechnology,

So, research in Germany is particularly attractive for international academics and scientists: guests from many countries carry out research at Germany's universities and scientific institutes. Alone 20,000 foreign researchers are supported by German funding organizations, while a large number of scientists additionally finance their stays in Germany by other means.

www.research-in-germany.de

www.researchportal.net

More about the German research institutions:

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – German Research Foundation

The German Research Foundation is a central, self-governing research funding organisation that promotes research at universities and other publicly financed research institutions in Germany. The DFG serves all branches of science and the humanities by funding research projects and facilitating cooperation among researchers.

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation is a non-profit foundation established by the Federal Republic of Germany for the promotion of international research cooperation. It enables highly qualified scholars not resident in Germany to spend extended periods of research in Germany and promotes the ensuing academic contacts.
The Humboldt Foundation promotes an active world-wide network of scholars. Individual sponsorship during periods spent in Germany and longstanding follow-up contacts have been hallmarks of the foundation's work since 1953.

Max Planck Society

The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science is an independent, non-profit research organization that primarily promotes and supports research at its own institutes. The research institutes perform basic research in the interest of the general public in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. In particular, the Max Planck Society takes up new, innovative and interdisciplinary research areas that German universities are not in a position to accommodate or deal with adequately. In certain areas, the institutes occupy key positions, while other institutes complement ongoing research. Moreover, some institutes perform service functions for research performed at universities by providing equipment and facilities to a wide range of scientists, such as telescopes, large-scale equipment, specialized libraries, and documentary resources.

Helmholtz Gemeinschaft

The Helmholtz Association is a community of 15 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centres. These centres have been commissioned with pursuing long-term research goals on behalf of the state and society. The Association strives to gain insights and knowledge so that it can help to preserve and improve the foundations of human life. It does this by identifying and working on the grand challenges faced by society, science and industry. Helmholtz Centres perform top-class research in strategic programmes in six core fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Key Technologies, Structure of Matter, Transport and Space.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is Europe's leading organization for technical and organizational innovations and a partner for contract research in all fields of the engineering sciences. It undertakes applied research of direct utility to private and public enterprise and of wide benefit to society in roughly 80 research units, including 58 Fraunhofer Institutes, at over 40 different locations throughout Germany. Its services are solicited by customers and contractual partners in industry, the service sector and public administration. Fraunhofer Institutes

The Leibniz Association is a scientific organisation comprised of 84 non-university research institutes and service facilities. The research work carried out and services provided are of national significance. The tasks perfomed by the institutes range from regional infrastructure research and economics through research projects in the area of social sciences to natural sciences, engineering and environmental research. The Leibniz Institutes are demand-oriented and interdisciplinary centers of competence. They consider themselves as co-operation partners for industry, public administration and politics; scientific collaboration with universities is particularly close and intensive.

Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke" e.V. (AiF)

German Federation of Industrial Cooperative Research Associations "Otto von Guericke" (AiF)

The AiF is the German Federation of Industrial Research Associations "Otto von Guericke" (Arbeitsgemeinschaft industrieller Forschungsvereinigungen "Otto von Guericke" e.V.). The central concern of this registered non-profit association is the promotion of applied Research and Development (R&D) for the benefit of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

Union der deutschen Akademien – Union of the German Academies of Sciences

The Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities is an association of seven academies of sciences and humanities that have joined together to achieve their common goals. It assembles more than 1600 scientists and academics who are outstanding representatives of their disciplines, both nationally and internationally, and whose work covers a broad range of subject areas. They have joined forces to promote scientific exchange, high quality research, and the emergence of new talent in science and the humanities.