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.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Highlights of week 11

The Berlin University Alliance (BUA)—Germany’s first excellence alliance comprising Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin—successfully passed its evaluation on March 11, 2026, as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments.

With this result, the alliance secures continued funding in the millions, marking a significant victory for the scientific landscape of both Berlin and Germany. The positive assessment confirms that the BUA has achieved its 2019 objectives and possesses a robust vision for the future.

On March 10, 2026, OpTecBB hosted the “Female Leadership in Quantum” edition of its BarBQ event at Leap Berlin. Deep tech experts Isabella Douzoglou Muños, Dr. Franziska Greinert, Maria Ksenia Witte, Eda S., and Jana Lehner took the stage as speakers and panelists to share their extensive leadership experience.

The discussion centered on how diversity acts as a catalyst for the quantum industry, yielding exclusively positive results: more resilient teams, better decision-making, and stronger companies. Inclusion improves performance—especially in a field characterized by uncertainty, high complexity, and lengthy innovation cycles. Another topic of discussion was the advancement of women in the quantum industry. The panel concluded that systems that enable female leadership benefit greatly from this. More about the event: BERLIN QUANTUM BBQ April 2026 | Quantum technology from Berlin

Der Beitrag Week 11: BUA continues to excel, Female Leadership in the Quantum Industry erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.

Weekly Wrap-Up: Highlights of week 10

On International Women’s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, FLINTA individuals once again took to the streets worldwide to fight for women’s rights and gender equality. On this day, Science & Startups published figures that serve as yet another reminder that equality and equal opportunity are still not a reality in the startup world. In Germany, only 19.8 percent of startup founders are women. In general, women are less likely to envision themselves becoming founders: In a student survey, 40 percent of men stated that they could see themselves as founders in the future. In contrast, only 21 percent of their female classmates said the same. Founders Dr. Adiba Maignan and Stine Hecht, with whom Science & Startups spoke on Women’s Day, say that scholarships and institutional support were crucial in their decision to ultimately start a business. Furthermore, research shows that role models and the ability to balance work and family life are essential for closing the gender gap in the startup industry.

The performance of quantum computers far exceeds that of classical models. Quantum computing is considered a key technology of the future, as it enables fundamentally new approaches to highly complex problems in business, mobility, energy, and medicine. The potential of the technology became clear at the awards ceremony for the first Berlin Quantum Hackathon 2026. Charité and Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe had tasked six development teams with challenges in the fields of medicine and mobility, which they were to solve using quantum computing. All teams arrived at practical solutions. Three of them received awards from State Secretary Severin Fischer: First place went to Team Mayo Clinic, second place to The Depth Compressors, and third place to Beerantum. The project demonstrates how quantum computing is increasingly being put to practical use and solving complex societal problems. The 2026 Hackathon was funded through the Zukunft Berlin project of the Senate Department for Economics, Energy, and Public Enterprises, as well as with EU funding. It was organized by Kipu Quantum in collaboration with BERLIN QUANTUM. “The impressive number of applications for the hackathon has once again shown how important the quantum computing scene is for Berlin!” emphasizes HI Managing Director Volker Hofmann.

Der Beitrag Week 10: Gender Gap in Startup Scene, first Quantum Hackathon 2026 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.

In the FluxFM podcast series “Weiß der Adler – Zukunft made in Adlershof” Markus Krutzik and Gabrielle Thomas talk about quantum research.

For most people, the term quantum technology is difficult to grasp. Yet in fact, it already appears in our everyday lives more often than we might think. In gaming, the advantages of quantum technology have been used for quite some time. Particularly exciting and promising areas of application can be found in communication, computing, and sensing. And when it comes to current challenges such as data security, this field of research can also offer innovative solutions.

The podcast also explains in clear and accessible terms, especially for listeners without a scientific background, what quantum actually means and why research in this field is so important for both existing and emerging technologies.

Berlin is set to become an international hotspot for quantum technologies. So far, Canada, the United States, Spain, and Munich have been significant locations for quantum research. Berlin has everything it takes to advance fundamental research in quantum technology at an international level and to build strong connections with industry. Berlin’s quantum ecosystem consists of a large network of universities, the Adlershof Technology Park, research institutes, industry centers, and the BERLIN QUANTUM initiative. With Leap Berlin, a place for exchange and collaboration between researchers and quantum innovators has been created in Adlershof.

Markus Krutzik heads the Joint Lab Integrated Quantum Sensors at Humboldt University of Berlin and the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz Institute for High Frequency Technology. He also works as a scientific advisor for Leap Berlin. Gabrielle Thomas is a physicist specializing in lasers, optics, and photonics and works as Group Leader Marketing at Menlo Systems.

Der Beitrag FLUXFM Podcast: Quantum Research in Berlin erschien zuerst auf Humboldt-Innovation Insights.