As a joint venture between two AI incubators, AI NATION brings together the Munich and Berlin startup ecosystems, providing AI startups across Germany with comprehensive support for their ventures. In this context, the current stage of the startup is irrelevant: AI NATION accompanies companies from their very first steps through to complex scale-up processes. Last week, AI NATION hosted the Welcome Days, where startups at various stages of development—including AI NATION GRANT and AI NATION ACCELERATOR teams—gathered from all over Germany.

Over the coming months, the teams will undergo an intensive program: The GRANT teams will focus on validating ideas, developing prototypes, achieving product-market fit, and recruiting their first test consumers. Meanwhile, the ACCELERATOR Teams will engage in a period defined by growth initiatives, optimizing efficiency and quality, increasing revenue, and strategic development.

AI NATION’s Welcome Week marked the official start of the upcoming development period. The event featured team gatherings, insightful Fireside Chats, and the ACCELERATOR Demo Night, where the Autumn 2025 batch presented the results of their hard work from the past few months.

This year, the regular networking event BarBQ, hosted by leap.berlin and OpTecBB e.V., coincided exactly with World Quantum Day. Every few weeks, this event brings together students, founders, scientists, and enthusiasts to exchange ideas on topics within the field of quantum science and industry.

As the innovation hub of BERLIN QUANTUM, leap.berlin—together with the Berlin University Alliance, Humboldt-Innovation GmbH, OpTecBB, and Berlin Partner for Business and Technology—is dedicated to promoting Berlin as a globally recognized, collaborative research community that drives innovation in quantum science and technology.

To achieve this, it is crucial that researchers and quantum entrepreneurs experience Berlin as a hub for an interactive and diverse scientific community with excellent talent development so that events like BarBQ are a vital cornerstone of this mission.

Der Beitrag Week 16: AI NATION Welcome Week, Quantum Hotspot Berlin 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.

Last week, Science & Startups relaunched the EXIST Women program. This initiative supports FLINTA individuals* from the scientific community who are ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Participants are equipped with the necessary tools, provided with financial funding, and integrated into strong networks to bring their ideas to life. Consultation sessions are available until December 15, and applications are open until December 31, 2025. The initiative is funded by EXIST, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, and Project Management Jülich. More info: EXIST Women Science & Startups.

On December 4, 2025, Volker Hofmann, Managing Director of Humboldt-Innovation GmbH, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Humboldt-Universitäts-Gesellschaft (HUG). The society bridges research and teaching with businesses and organizations, serving as a vital link between Humboldt-Universität and the general public. The honorary board supports young researchers in their projects and helps them present their work to a wider audience.

Last Thursday, the startup factory JUNI (formerly “UNITE”) hosted its UNITE Science Day, where association members came together to advance UNITE’s shared mission as a central catalyst for academic spin-offs. The event opened with welcoming remarks from State Secretaries Dr. Henry Marx and Tobias Dünow, as well as Olaf Schulz. Following this, Managing Directors Laura Möller and Christoph Krüger presented the UNITE strategy, leading into a panel discussion moderated by Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring. Panelists Thomas Heilmann, Laura Möller, Christian Segal, and Matan Beery discussed how UNITE can serve as a bridge between science and industry. To conclude, participants joined deep-dive workshops to develop concrete next steps for the hub, which will guide UNITE’s future direction. One of UNITE’s core goals is to facilitate the creation of 365 startups per year.

Der Beitrag Week 48: Board Position for Volker Hofmann erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Last week, we published a new HI:LIGHT on our blog featuring the study ‘The Electoral Effects of State-Sponsored Anti-LGBTQ Measures’ (2025). The research that was conducted by Violeta Ines Haas, Konstantin Bogatyrev, Tarik Abou-Chadi, Heike Klüver, and Lukas Stoetzer from the Humboldt Governance Lab examines how state-sponsored anti-LGBTQ measures affect voting behavior. The researchers’ findings are distressing. Read more here: Winning Elections with Homophobia? – Humboldt-Innovation Insights

Scientists have until February 15, 2026, to apply for the ProValid funding program with innovations they aim to bring to market maturity. Funded projects will receive support through prototyping, feasibility studies, as well as market and patent analyses. More information: ProValid: from research to application | Humboldt Innovation

The China Competence Center has released a new podcast episode exploring the interconnectedness of Germany, China, and global innovation hubs through investment, startup ecosystems, and talent development. Chinese-American investor and startup expert Yier Erin B. joined the discussion, providing a global perspective and deep expertise. Listen now and subscribe here: China Competence Training Center

Der Beitrag Week 5: HI:LIGHT, Application Phase for ProValid, CCTC Podcast Episode erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

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.

Der Beitrag Week 6: Innovation in Europe and Women in Science erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Weekly Wrap-up: Highlights in week 46

We have published a new HI:LIGHT on the Humboldt Governance Lab on our blog, in which we report on the GovLab’s new project. This project includes a study by Prof. Dr. Heike Klüver and Prof. Dr. Johannes Gieseke, both from HU, and Prof. Dr. Lukas Stötzer from the University of Witten/Herdecke. In their study, they examined the relationship between perceived inequality and populism and uncovered new insights.

There was another reason to celebrate: On 14 November 2025, the startup network Science & Startups honored the best research-based business ideas from the “100 to 100” competition. The evening focused on five ideas that particularly impressed the jury with their innovative and social potential. You can find out who won and more details in the post by Science & Startups.

Leap Berlin opened its doors last week for another Berlin Quantum BBQ hosted by Optec-Berlin-Brandenburg (OpTecBB) e.V. With this event series—where grilling is part of every gathering—OpTecBB aims to strengthen the quantum community and create opportunities to share valuable knowledge in a relaxed atmosphere. The next BBQ will take place on 9 December, and you can already register for it.

Der Beitrag Week 46: HI:LIGHT about inequality and populism erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Essentially, we’re building a high-speed camera for the nanoworld. With electron microscopes, we don’t just want to visualize the tiniest structures. We want to track how minuscule components, like transistors, switch during operation; in other words, we’re aiming to look inside a working computer chip in real time. These insights help us not only to better understand today’s technologies but also open up pathways to the components of tomorrow: from more powerful semiconductors and novel optoelectronic elements to magnetic memory devices for spintronics.

An electron microscope is, in principle, like an extremely powerful magnifying glass, but instead of using light, it uses electrons. This allows us to visualize structures a thousand times smaller than what a conventional light microscope can reveal, down to individual atoms. Electron microscopy is used to investigate materials in all their detail: for example, in medicine to view cells and viruses; in materials science to develop new substances; or in semiconductor engineering to analyze computer chips at the nanoscale. It’s truly a key tool for making the invisible visible.

The biggest current challenge is to capture ultra-fast processes in the nanosecond range while preparing samples that remain stable under real-world operating conditions in the electron microscope. Preparing such electrically contacted and electron-transparent samples is extremely delicate; critical properties are often lost in the process. To overcome this problem, we developed a special carrier chip system called the FLASHgrid, which significantly simplifies both the fabrication and contacting of these samples. This provides a foundation for conducting reliable experiments on functioning nanoscale devices.

With Interference Gating (iGate), we have developed a method that makes ultrafast processes directly visible inside the electron microscope, essentially a strobe light for the nanoworld. You can think of it like an entirely new shutter mechanism, similar to a film camera, but with no mechanical aperture needing to close and no film that has to move. This makes the method surprisingly easy to implement, without long downtimes or costly microscope modifications. As a result, we can now capture not only snapshots in the nanosecond range but also entire “movie sequences” of dynamic events, such as the switching of a nanostructured diode.

The FLASHgrid is a MEMS-based carrier chip system that has now reached product maturity thanks to a collaboration with Ferdinand-Braun-Institut gGmbH, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH). It solves a core problem in electron microscopy: until now, preparing tiny, electrically contacted samples was extremely time-consuming and expensive, sometimes taking days for just a single sample. Our chip reduces this effort to just a few hours, as its adaptive electrodes can flexibly adjust to different geometries. This not only makes sample preparation faster and more cost-effective, but also more reliable and reproducible. In the long term, the FLASHgrid enables entirely new workflows in both research and industry. It’s a tool that not only simplifies everyday lab work but also accelerates the development of future nanotechnologies.

The innovative aspect of the FLASHgrid is that it drastically lowers the barrier of sample preparation. Previously, creating electrically contacted samples for electron microscopy was an expensive, specialized process mastered by only a few experts. Our chip radically simplifies this step: thanks to the adaptive electrodes, a wide range of sample geometries can be quickly and reliably contacted – whether they are semiconductors, optoelectronic structures, or magnetic materials.

This benefits research labs, which can significantly increase their throughput, as well as the industry, particularly in semiconductor and materials development, where time is literally money. The FLASHgrid enables shorter development cycles while offering deeper insights into next-generation components. It is, therefore, both a driver of innovation in basic research and a tool with direct added value for tomorrow’s technologies.

Prototypes of the FLASHgrid

What fascinates me most about my work is that with our methods, we don’t just gain a better understanding of existing materials – we are also laying the groundwork for future technologies. When we learn how electrons move in nanostructures and how components actually function during operation, we can develop more powerful and energy-efficient chips in the future. But the perspectives go far beyond that: our methods also allow for the investigation of novel optoelectronic systems, such as for quantum communication, or magnetic structures for spintronics. In the long term, such insights could even help develop more sustainable materials or form the basis for entirely new computing and memory technologies. In this sense, I see electron microscopy not just as a tool for analysis, but as a key to unlocking future technological leaps.

The most obvious application is in the semiconductor industry, which is constantly working on developing smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient components. Here, our methods can directly help to better understand how new structures function and to shorten development cycles. Companies in optoelectronics – for instance, for next-generation LEDs or photonic devices as well as the magnetics and spintronics sectors, which are working on future memory and computing architectures, also stand to benefit.

Beyond that, research institutes and companies in materials development are potential partners: anyone researching new materials for sustainable technologies, batteries, or quantum applications gains a crucial advantage from high-resolution, time-resolved insights. With the new DElPhIN lab we are currently building at the Institute of Physics at Humboldt University Berlin, we are laying the foundation for exactly this: a specialized laboratory for dynamic electron phase imaging, enabling close collaboration between university research and industry.

From the beginning, it was never just the application of a method that fascinated me, but its further development. Even during my studies, I was drawn to tinkering with the instruments themselves and exploring how to expand their capabilities – a red thread that has run through my bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD. I’ve always been driven by the belief that with new tools, you can also ask and answer new questions.

What moves me deeply is that I get to continue this work in Berlin, the city where not only the electron microscope was invented, but also the foundations for time-resolved electron microscopy were laid. Being able to develop my own innovative methods in this field is a great honor and also a very personal motivation. Because what drives me is not so much the idea of creating something entirely new for myself, but rather making a contribution that enables future generations of researchers to gain new insights into the world of the smallest structures using improved instruments.

There wasn’t one single pivotal moment for me, but rather many small ones that came together over the years. Scientifically, a key moment was certainly when we first broke the nanosecond barrier with iGate and were able to directly visualize charge transport in a switching semiconductor. But just as influential were the encounters with people whose contributions to electron microscopy have changed our view of the world. Awards and recognitions for my research have also shown me that I’m on the right track, a nice feeling that motivates me to keep going. But the most important thing for me has been finding fellow travelers along the way: long-time colleagues who have become friends. Without that team spirit, the many long nights in the lab would have been nearly impossible.

What fascinates me most today is that we’re developing tools that not only enable new insights into physics, but also make daily lab work easier for many. A great example is the FLASHgrid: it makes the labor-intensive and expensive preparation for electrically contacted experiments significantly faster and easier. It’s important to me that this doesn’t just benefit us, but also frees up researchers around the world, allowing them to focus more on the scientific questions themselves rather than getting lost in long preparations. Seeing that a tool we developed from an idea is now tangibly contributing to more efficient and accessible research is one of my biggest motivations.

Setbacks are just part of research; sometimes, despite months of preparation, an experiment fails due to a detail that couldn’t have been foreseen. I try to see this as a learning process: every failure shows me where to look more closely and often opens up new ideas I hadn’t considered before. The team is also crucial: when you’re pulling all-nighters together in the lab, you share both the disappointments and the small successes. That makes setbacks more bearable and ensures that something positive always comes out of them in the end.

If I could wish for one thing, it would be an answer to how far we can push time-resolved electron holography. We recently broke through the picosecond barrier, a huge step that showed what’s possible. At the same time, we’re already working on an optoelectronic implementation that could even take us into the femtosecond range. This would create a tool that allows us to make the three-dimensional potential distribution of fundamental physical processes visible like a film, to literally film electrons at work. For me, that’s a fascinating vision: that in the future, we won’t just understand what happens, but actually witness how it happens.

When I do manage to stop thinking about physics, I devote myself to my many hobbies, which also often involve working with my hands: from turntablism, to tinkering with cars, to building movie prop replicas. I also try to spend as much time as possible with my family. A great compromise that brings a lot of these things together, for me, are science slams. We usually all have a great time there and I only talk about my work for ten minutes.

Der Beitrag Interview with physicist Dr. Tolga Wagner erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

The journey of AI start-up Noah Labs began in 2021, when Oliver Piepenstock (34) and Marcus Hott (28) met at the Entrepreneur First incubator in Berlin during a start-up speed dating session. Both had applied to the organization of the same name, which invests six-figure sums in talented people right from the start out of conviction, without program participants having to present a business idea. This was also the case for Oliver and Marcus, who subsequently joined forces in the incubator and founded their company, the heart of which is the medical device “Noah Labs Ark”. This is an AI-based cardiovascular telemonitoring platform and is now to be expanded to include “Noah Labs Vox”, a voice-based AI software for detecting decompensated heart failure in an early stage.

The medical sector was not new territory for Oliver and Marcus when they founded the company, as they had both worked in this field before: Marcus had worked as a software developer with machine learning and AI at Harvard Medical School and recognized the potential of these technologies for the healthcare sector. At the time, Oliver, an economist, already had his own healthcare company in the field of elderly care called Mecasa.
Oliver and Marcus received support from the Berlin Startup Scholarship (BSS) from December 2021 to April 2023 to further develop the business idea for their new company. In addition, the founders also took part in the Humboldt-Innovation GmbH mentoring program between 2022 and 2023.

Until then, the founders were still a duo, but this changed in 2024 when Dr. Leonhard Riehle (31), who had completed his medical studies at the Charité hospital in Berlin and had led clinical studies on voice and also worked in the field of cardiology, joined and completed the founding team.
A promising constellation of an economist, software developer and doctor, whose Noah Labs Ark software was quickly approved as a Class IIa medical device. The telemonitoring platform is already being used successfully in numerous medical practices. The Noah Labs team takes care of setting up all the devices, other technical tasks and also offers medical staff training on how to use them correctly. As a result, doctors are able to concentrate fully on treating their patients’ cardiovascular diseases, monitor the effectiveness of treatment in real time and intervene medically in good time if vital signs and symptoms deteriorate. In this way, patients are cared for even if they have to wait months for their next appointment with a cardiologist. At this point, Noah Labs closes a gap in the healthcare system.

AI-based cardiovascular telemonitoring platform “Noah Labs Ark” (c) Noah Labs

But that is not all: Noah Labs is currently developing the voice-based AI software Noah Labs Vox which is to be used for detecting decompensated heart failure early. As part of the “AI-Based Voice Analysis for Monitoring Patients Hospitalized with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure” study, or “VAMP-HF” for short, the German Heart Center at Charité and the Mayo Clinic in the USA are investigating the extent to which patients with advanced heart failure can be monitored telemedically via the sound of their voice, using AI from Noah Labs.

But how can the condition of the heart be determined from the voice? To answer this, it is necessary to explain what happens in the body of people with heart failure with “hydropic decompensation”: Due to the severely reduced pumping function of the heart, sufficient fluid can no longer be transported from the tissues to the excretory organs, so that the fluid accumulates in the body, such as in the lungs, leading to a life-threatening deterioration in general condition. Doctors then administer medication to strengthen the heart and drugs to improve the elimination of fluid. It is essential that the effectiveness of the therapy is closely monitored and adjusted. This is where voice monitoring by Noah Labs Vox is helpful, as a greater accumulation of fluid in the body leads to a change in the propagation of sound waves, resulting in a temporary change in the voice. In contrast to human hearing, which cannot perceive these changes, Noah Labs Vox makes them measurable.
The software analyzes hundreds of parameters in patient voice samples and identifies the smallest changes. The AI records the amount of fluid excreted and can thus predict the effectiveness of the therapy so that doctors can adjust the treatment before symptoms occur.

Noah Labs Ark enables detecting heart failure early so that reduce cardiovascular events, hospitalizations and mortality are reduced. If Noah Labs Vox is also approved as a medical device, these events will presumably occur even less frequently. Noah Labs Vox may also be used for other cardiovascular diseases in the future. This is currently being tested.
With its products, Noah Labs is demonstrating a further facet of the possible applications of AI and motivating people to continue exploring the potential of the technology.

Der Beitrag Detecting heart failure based on voice erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Were you a student or in school back in the late 2000s?
If so, you probably remember SchülerVZ and StudiVZ — the German-language answer to Facebook. Both social networks were born at Humboldt University in Berlin. In October 2005, Dennis Bemmann, Ehssan Dariani, and Michael Brehm launched StudiVZ, a network for university students that quickly grew to tens of millions of members. In February 2007, they followed it up with SchülerVZ, a version for school pupils, which also attracted millions. But as more and more users migrated to Facebook, both platforms slowly faded away. In 2022, StudiVZ finally shut down for good.

Another Humboldt-born success story is Babbel, the popular paid language-learning platform. Founded in 2007 by Markus Witte under the name Lesson Nine GmbH, Babbel went online in early 2008. At first, it was ad-supported, but by 2012 the company had shifted to a subscription-based model. In 2013, Babbel set its sights on the U.S. market and acquired American competitor PlaySay, establishing a strong foothold across the Atlantic. Over the years, Babbel expanded its offerings, saw a surge in users during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is now preparing for an IPO. Today, the company generates hundreds of millions in revenue and operates out of both Berlin-Mitte and New York City.

Der Beitrag Famous HU companies erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Have you ever heard of the “12 Principles of Green Chemistry”?
In the 1990s, these were established by chemists John Warner and Paul Anastas, and they describe the sector’s holistic, interdisciplinary approach. These include:

1. Waste prevention
2. Avoidance of by-products (atom economy)
3. Carrying out syntheses with less hazardous substances
4. Production of the safest and most environmentally friendly chemicals possible
5. Use of environmentally friendly solvents and auxiliary substances
6. Use of energy-efficient processes
7. Use of renewable raw materials
8. Avoidance of derivatives as intermediates in syntheses
9. Use of catalysts
10. Production of biodegradable substances
11. Use of process analytics for continuous monitoring of syntheses
12. Accident prevention

In addition, these principles can be assigned to five objectives of Green Chemistry:

Sources: Grüne Chemie | Bedeutung | Umweltbundesamt

More articles on green chemistry:

Der Beitrag Principles and goals of green chemistry erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.