Germany

Germany is a member state of the EU. 74 FEAST members are from Germany and 162 have collaborative links with Germany.

Welcome to the country of Poets and Thinkers!
In research Germany is #1 in Europe and #3 worldwide.

A highly-developed university and research landscape plus innovative companies shape the scientific-research system in Germany. The high quality academic training “Made in Germany” is recognised worldwide. More than 100 research universities train 70% of the students in Germany. With more than 250,000 scientists 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. Disciplines of the humanities also play an outstanding role. German scientists and research institutes are world leaders in biomedicine and medical engineering, environmental research and automotive engineering, and in engineering, in general. German scientists and researchers also play their part in the world’s top groups in the emerging 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.

Research in Germany is particularly attractive for international academics and scientists: guests from all over the world carry out research at Germany’s universities and scientific institutes. 20,000 foreign researchers are supported by German funding organisations, while a large number of scientists additionally finance their stays in Germany by other means.

Germany’s science and research landscape is subdivided into the following sectors trade and industry, university and non-university research institutes. Trade and industry is the most important player in the research and development sector (R&D). R&D expenditure by trade and industry was approximately €36.8 billion in 2003.
At universities R&D expenditure totalled €9.1 billion, and at non-university institutes approximately €7.3 billion. The Federal Republic of Germany’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D in 2003 was €53.2 billion, making up 2.5% of the gross domestic product.

For a short introduction about Germany see the entry in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany.

Around 10% of all the Nobel Prizes ever awarded have gone to German Scientists. In the past 15 years, the work of eight German researchers has been acknowledged in the form of a Nobel Prize. This places German third, behind the United States and Britain. A total of 27 German researchers have received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 22 in Physics, and 15 in Medicine and Physiology.

Germany enjoys a tradition of outstanding research and development. These roots begin with Johannes Gutenberg’s book printing via Carl Friedrich Benz’s automobile and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity through to Karlheinz Brandenburg’s MP3 format. Moreover, the invention of the refrigerator, the neon lamp, the tram, the glider or the smartcard all go back to the work of German scientists.

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