State research institutions

The German states (Länder) and municipalities act as research funding bodies and operate several research institutes that support state research activities. There are 139 institutes covering a broad range of research areas and enriching the German research landscape.

One example is the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW). The state of Baden-Württemberg set up ZSW in 1988 as a non-profit foundation that brings together universities, research institutes and companies. Today, it is one of the leading institutes for applied research in the areas of photovoltaics, renewable fuels, battery technology, fuel cells and energy systems analysis. Some 320 scientists, engineers and technicians, including more than two dozen international scientists, are currently employed at ZSW’s three sites in Stuttgart, Ulm and Widderstall.

Another example is the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), which has research facilities in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Osnabrück and Bremen, laboratories in Berlin, Lübeck and Darmstadt and a branch office in Trier. It is one of the world’s leading research centres in the field of AI.

A researcher is conducting experiments with a mobile robot system.

Facts and figures

139 research institutions

More than 2,300 R&D personnel, including 1,300 researchers

Total budget: 774 million euros, 229 million euros for R&D (2022)

Research activities

Research activities are conducted in:

Engineering
Humanities
Health research
Natural sciences

Budget

The total budget in 2022 was approx. 774 million euros, of which 229 million euros were allocated to R&D.

Pie chart that shows that departmental research institutes are primarily publicly funded (93 per cent). Approx. 4 per cent of these research institutions’ revenues come from their commercial activities and 3 per cent from other sources.

State-level research institutes are for the most part publicly funded (667 million euros in 2022). Approx. five per cent (approx. 40.0 million euros) of the revenues of these research institutions comes from their commercial activities.

State research institutions

German state research institutions conduct research on a very wide range of topics. An interactive map shows which research is carried out at which institutions and where these are located.

Federal Report on Research & Innovation > Research institutions