The author, Katarina Zimmer, notes that Germany's four largest non-university research organisations – the Max-Planck Society, the Leibniz Association, the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft – and Germany's universities are in the global top tier of international rankings and maintain a strong international profile. She identifies several factors underpinning this success, which derive from the structure of Germany's scientific ecosystem, and highlights recent initiatives to further strenghten it, including:

• A high public spending on research and development, with responsibilities shared between the federal and state (Länder) governments
• A broad ecosystem comprising more than 420 universities and the four research organisations named above; these include numerous highly specialised institutes.
• Close collaboration between universities and research organisations. To promote such collaboration, the federal and state governments launched the "Excellence Initiative" in 2005, a programme fostering interdisciplinary research and excellence. From 2026 to 2032 70 so called "Clusters of Excellence" will receive a total of 539 million EUR per year.
• Basic research, focused on fundamental questions without immidiate practical application, is a core pillar of the German research landscape. Its results often carry the potential for future innovation – although the commercialisation of research products is a long-standing national weakness.
• To adress Germany's "transfer gap", the new federal government launched an ambitious high-tech strategy (Hightech Agenda) in 2025, focussing on several key enabling technologies.
• Although internationalisation is already an important part of the research landscape, Germany aims to attract even more international talent.

Further reading

• Nature (27.11.2025): A structured system: the secrets of Germany’s scientific reputation