Week 29: “Next Generation” Report 2026, HU President Member of BACB Board of Trustees

The Start-up Association’s ‘Next Generation’ report confirms Berlin as Germany’s strongest hub for start-ups: with 429 new start-ups in the first half of 2026, Berlin has set a new record for the whole of Germany. Hamburg follows with 212, Munich with 208 and Cologne with 90 new start-ups over the same period. In terms of start-ups per capita, Berlin takes second place among the federal states and is thus well ahead of the rest. Only Munich performs better in this respect, taking first place. Further, it is also interesting to note that 34 per cent of all new start-ups in Germany now have a clear link to AI. In 2025, this figure stood at just 27 per cent. Berlin’s start-up scene is benefiting from this, with its infrastructure shaped by AI incubators such as AI NATION.

Julia von Blumenthal, the renowned political scientist and President of Humboldt University of Berlin, has now become a member of the Business Angels Club Berlin-Brandenburg e.V. (BACB), where she is promoting the transfer of knowledge. Here, von Blumenthal’s expertise is intended to bring together academic research and private investors in order to optimally drive forward academic spin-offs. Within this framework, the aim is also to expand cooperation with the start-up platform JUNI. Von Blumenthal wants to “build bridges and bring networks together. The aim is to link excellent academic research with the right investment (…).”