10 million euros in funding for UNITE – Startup Factory Berlin-Brandenburg
© Adobe Stock
UNITE – Startup Factory Berlin-Brandenburg has been recognised by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as one of ten nationwide flagship projects for science-based start-ups. UNITE is to be established as a central transfer platform for technology-driven spin-offs from science and industry in the capital region. The Helmholtz Centre Berlin will also benefit from this.
The award for the flagship project comes with funding of up to 10 million euros over five years. Private investors had already pledged an additional 10 million euros in advance, with another 10 million euros coming from the VC Pre-Seed Fund. This gives the project a strong financial foundation (a total of 30 million euros) for UNITE and future deep tech start-ups in the capital region.
The Berlin University Alliance – consisting of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin – has been instrumental in establishing UNITE e.V. and will now work alongside a broad-based consortium to strategically and sustainably expand knowledge transfer in Berlin-Brandenburg. Important impetus for the conception and design of UNITE came from "Science & Start-ups" – the joint start-up centre of the BUA universities.
The HZB will be more closely integrated into Berlin's start-up landscape
For the Berlin-Brandenburg region, the participation of the Berlin Excellence Network is an important step that will significantly strengthen and structure the knowledge and innovation space. The Helmholtz Centre Berlin also benefits as a partner in the UNITE project. This gives employees easier access to support services for innovation and transfer from the Berlin University Alliance and other UNITE partners.
"One particular advantage is that the Helmholtz Centre Berlin will be even more firmly and sustainably anchored in Berlin's start-up landscape. Where creative minds come together, new ideas and networks for their realisation emerge," says Dr. Paul Harten, Head of Technology Transfer at HZB. He emphasises that the joint collaboration in UNITE will enable more innovation in and from research.
Focus on AI, health and green technologies
The aim is to structurally strengthen innovation pathways between research and application beyond traditional technology transfer and to bring forth a new generation of technology-driven start-ups from science. The focus will be on artificial intelligence, health and green technologies.
- Cool vaccines in rural Kenya: solar solution has been awarded by UNIn May 2026, Tabitha Awuor Amollo is spending some weeks as a guest scientist at HZB, analysing perovskite thin films at BESSY II. The Kenyan physicist from Egerton University, Nairobi, was recently recognised for her achievements in research and teaching. For the development of a solar-powered refrigeration system for use in rural health centres, she has been awarded the 2026 Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD)-Elsevier Foundation Award. An interview on exceptional projects and daily struggles of a scientist. Questions were asked by Antonia Rötger.
- BESSY II: How intrinsic oxygen shortens the lifespan of solid-state batteriesAlthough solid-state batteries (SSBs) demonstrate high performance and are intrinsically safe, their capacity currently declines rapidly. A team from the TU Wien, Humboldt-University Berlin and HZB has now analysed a TiS₂|Li₃YCl₆ solid-state half-cell in operando at BESSY II using a special sample environment that allows for non-destructive investigation under real operating conditions. Data obtained by combination of soft and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and HAXPES) revealed a new degradation mechanism that had not previously been identified in solid-state batteries. They have gained some surprising insights, particularly regarding the harmful role played by intrinsic oxygen. This study provides valuable information for improving design and handling of such batteries.
- Spintronics at BESSY II: Real-time analysis of magnetic bilayer systemsSpintronic devices enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. They are based on the interaction between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Now, a team from Freie Universität Berlin, HZB and Uppsala University has succeeded in tracking, for each layer separately, how the magnetic order changes after a short laser pulse has excited the system. They were also able to identify the main cause of the loss of antiferromagnetic order in the oxide layer: the excitation is transported from the hot electrons in the ferromagnetic metal to the spins in the antiferromagnet.