The Senate Department for Economic Affairs, Energy and Public Enterprises has approved the Deep Tech Agenda, the city’s innovation policy strategy for the next ten years. To strengthen its technological sovereignty, Berlin must expand its competitiveness and resilience—attributes that this agenda is specifically designed to bolster. Additionally, the focus lies on five key future fields: Artificial Intelligence; Biotechnology; Microelectronics, Photonics & Quantum Technologies; New Materials & Modern Manufacturing Technologies; and Software Technologies. Diverse measures are already underway to actively address current gaps in research, transfer, and scaling.

65 percent of promising startups fail due to conflicts between founders. For 66 percent of investors, the relationship between founders is the most important criterion in investment decisions. After all, if there is no harmony within the team, the company can quickly fall apart, and the invested capital is lost. That is why startup consultant Katja Brunner and business coach Marta Schafstall addressed the topic of ‘Engineering Relationships’ during the latest Female Founders Lounge hosted by Science & Startups. AI experts and founders Alexandra Begue and Deborah Menezes also joined the panel discussion.

HI Managing Director Volker Hofmann spent some exciting days in Paris at VivaTech. Alongside a large number of international start-ups, investors, companies and policy-makers, the German start-up ecosystem was also well represented thanks to Startup Germany. Berlin-based start-ups such as Blueprint Biomed, which had recently won the Science & Startups start-up award, were also in attendance. Work is continuing on expanding the Franco-German start-up ecosystem. We’re already looking forward to next year!

Der Beitrag Week 25: Deep Tech Berlin Agenda, Female Founders Lounge on “Engineering Relationships”, VivaTech 2026 erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Last week, 400 guests from Berlin’s scientific and industrial sectors gathered to celebrate the Berlin University Alliance’s spring festival. The event took place at the Academy of Arts at Pariser Platz, overlooking the Brandenburger Tor.

During the event, BUA spokesperson and President of Freie Universität Berlin, Prof. Dr. Günter Ziegler, cited key praise from the Excellence Strategy’s expert panel evaluation. The panel views the BUA as a compelling model for an integrated research environment—one that is unique in scale within the German university landscape. According to the assessment, the alliance collaborates closely internally and possesses enormous transformative potential, which must now be fully realized.

A jury of investors and industry experts from Hello Tomorrow has selected the HU-startup Shit2Power as one of 100 “Deep Tech Startups to Watch” in 2026, chosen from a pool of 4,800 applicants due to its immense potential.

This recognition grants Shit2Power the opportunity to pitch at the Hello Tomorrow Summit in Amsterdam. There, they will deliver a live pitch to a high-profile audience of over 3,500 deep-tech investors, entrepreneurs, and more than 60 government delegations, competing for a grand prize of €100,000.

Making business processes more efficient, tracking the impact of innovations in real time, and intervening immediately when problems arise? It sounds promising, and thanks to Noreja’s platform—based on Artificial Intelligence and Process Mining—it is actually possible.

The innovative spirit of the founders, including Prof. Dr. Jan Mendling, HU Professor of Computer Science, has now been rewarded: the company closed its latest financing round with a staggering €1.1 million. Noreja intends to use this newly acquired capital to expand its software and establish itself as one of the leading platforms in the field of Generative Process Intelligence.

For more information, check out the latest article in our Newscorner.

Der Beitrag Week 17: BUA’s Spring Festival, Celebrating our Startup Successes erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

The AI NATION ACCELERATOR Spring 2026 batch is set! We are delighted to welcome 15 startups, consisting of familiar faces from the AI NATION GRANT or THE POOL, as well as brand-new talent from all over Germany. On Wednesday, April 15, the teams will come together for the Welcome Days to kick off the new batch.

In 2023, Nina Heine and Fabian Habicht founded their company, Shit2Power, with the support of the EXIST and Berlin Startup scholarships. Their innovative idea? Generating energy from sewage sludge – traditionally a waste product – and using it to treat wastewater. By utilizing this recovered energy, wastewater treatment plants can increase their output of purified freshwater in a cost-effective and climate-neutral way.

The startup has already received several awards for this remarkable project, but now founder Nina Heine is being bestowed a very special honor: in 2026, she is one of three finalists at the German Startup Awards in the “Founder of the Year” category. She successfully stood out against more than 400 other nominees. The award ceremony will take place on May 21, 2026, at the Palais am Funkturm in Berlin. We’re crossing our fingers!

Deep Tech Momentum brings together founders, investors, corporates, and policymakers who are actively working to transfer deep tech from science into real-world applications. Science & Startups will also be part of the event this year to network with science-based founders, early-stage teams, investors, and entrepreneurs, while providing insights into the ecosystem of the joint startup service of Berlin’s major universities. The event will take place over two days, from May 20–21, 2026, at Wilhelm Studios in Berlin.

Der Beitrag Week 15: AI NATION ACCELERATOR Batch, Nina Heine at German Startup Awards, Deep Tech Momentum erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Aaron is the medical assistant of the future. With the help of artificial intelligence, our technology bridges the gap between the growing shortage of medical professionals and an aging society. As the first point of contact for patients, Aaron makes every doctor’s office available around the clock—even on weekends.

With just a few clicks, the telephone assistant can be used to book appointments online and find simple solutions. Medical professionals are relieved of organizational tasks and can be deployed more efficiently. We use artificial intelligence to adapt human-machine communication to people’s needs, rather than the other way around.

Our vision is accessible, effective and sustainable healthcare for people of all ages. Despite technological change and the growing shortage of medical professionals across Europe, medical care will not be automated in the near future for regulatory reasons. However, healthcare, i.e. care provided by practice staff and consultations with doctors, can be supported and asynchronised by AI in the future. Aaron can be the conversation partner of the future for this purpose.

Excerpts from Aaron.ai software

Der Beitrag Aaron in healthcare: AI that answers instead of putting you on hold erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Pets initially suffer in silence when they fall ill. Dogs and cats are very resilient creatures and only show signs of discomfort or pain when it becomes almost unbearable. The “Feniska Base” automatically monitors weight changes, toilet visits, and sleeping times. This allows potential health problems to be detected early or even prevented.

Feniska is the only provider of products that enable automatic and non-invasive data tracking. Our goal is to provide pet owners with smart IoT products that facilitate the monitoring, prevention, and maintenance of animal health and raise human awareness of animal health.

The Feniska app was developed to simplify health monitoring for pet owners, focusing on four health metrics. These were considered crucial for health by veterinarians among other metrics: weight, nutrition, activity, and mood. The Feniska app can be used in combination with the “Feniska Base” to automatically monitor health metrics (weight changes, toilet visits, sleep times, and behavior) from the “Finiska Base.” What makes the “Feniska Base” special is that it measures data non-invasively. This means that the animal does not have to wear a collar or other device for this health data to be collected. Automated and non-invasive trackers for pets do not yet exist within the EU.

Feniska App

In the future, we will offer a smart home ecosystem for pet owners so that they can keep track of their pets’ various health needs. Pet owners should not only know what food their pet needs or what the ideal weight is for their pet at different ages, but also be informed about behavior and character traits, types of activities, or clinical pictures and their prevention. That is why we see it as part of our mission to incorporate this educational aspect into our products. Our vision is to create a world in which every pet owner can ensure that their pet is healthy and happy.

Der Beitrag How are our pets really doing? erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.