Week 6: Innovation in Europe and Women in Science

Weekly Wrap-Up: Highlights of week 6

To mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Science & Startups, in collaboration with AI NATION and the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK Berlin), hosted a Female Founders Lounge on February 11, 2026. This time, the event took place in the morning as a Breakfast Edition on the theme “Building the Future – Women Shaping Responsible Tech Innovation.” As always, the lounge offered women from the startup, science, and industry communities an opportunity to network and exchange ideas. Women who have already built long careers in science enriched the event as panelists: Tina Kluewer, Alexandra Begue, Dr. Jelena Ivanovska, and Dr. Adiba Maignan. Startup consultant and mentor Katja Brunner once again served as host. The next FFL will take place in a few months or weeks.

Last week, Oliver Hasse, deputy managing director of HI, traveled to San Sebastián, Spain, to attend the opening of the Quantum Tower at the CIC nanoGUNE research center. The tower houses a unique infrastructure for the development of silicon-based quantum chips, marking a milestone for the region’s deep tech ambitions. The opening ceremony also included a panel discussion in which Oliver participated; the panel concluded that Europe possesses the scientific expertise necessary for innovation and simply needs more industry partners to join research projects at an earlier stage. “Europe’s innovation challenge is not about ideas—it’s about scaling them together,” Oliver summarized.

At the end of last week, around 100 researchers gathered at the Erwin Schrödinger Center at Humboldt University in Berlin to share their interim results from projects funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space under the initiative “Innovative Materials and Processes for Quantum Systems.” The projects cover a broad range of research topics: These range from new processing techniques for materials used in cryogenic circuits for quantum computing to new linearly refractive optical materials for photonic chips used to control quantum systems. Dr. Gregor Pieplow kicked off the scientific exchange with a keynote speech on the research work of the DINOQuant junior research group. Within this framework, the results of all 13 funded projects were presented, followed by an opportunity for networking.