Your experience on our website is key to advancing this platform - share your valuable insights by taking part in our online survey after your visit: Click here to participate. Duration: 7-10min.

Support making RiG more international!

Take part in our online survey at the end of your visit and share your valuable experiences and opinions. Duration: 7-10 min.

Start survey

Explore the frontiers of German research

Explore the many facets of German research: from diverse strategic fields shaping the country’s future to projects taking shape today and discoveries being made right now. Be inspired to work and conduct research in Germany.

Three perspectives on German research, from the bigger picture to the latest developments. Germany’s research landscape is vast, so we bring it into focus at three levels. Each one takes a closer look: begin with the wider view of where the country is investing, move on to the people and projects driving that work, then stay up to date with the latest developments.

Research topics in focus

Germany is one of the few countries where research ambition is written into national policy. Several fields – from artificial intelligence and energy to aerospace and biotechnology – are prioritised under the federal High-Tech Agenda, with dedicated funding, world-class infrastructure and a growing international research community already in place.

GOOD TO KNOW

The High-Tech Agenda Germany focuses, among others, on six key technologies that are central to the country’s future. Research of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Technologies, Microelectronics, Biotechnology, Fusion and Climate-neutral Energy Generation, and Technologies for Climate-neutral Mobility is driven forward by detailed roadmaps and defined milestones.

Some of the most exciting research is happening across disciplines. Alongside Germany's strategic priorities, we feature cross-cutting themes that bring together researchers, institutions and ideas in new ways. Each topic page introduces the field, the key players and the funding routes available to you as an international researcher.

Explore all research topics

AdobeStock/ryanking999

First-hand experience: exploring groundbreaking research

Strategy on paper is one thing – research happening right now is another. 

Each month, we go behind the scenes with leading German universities and research institutes to report on discoveries in progress, collaborations forming across disciplines, and the open doors for international researchers.

These features are written in close partnership with our featured partners: the institutions themselves. You get first-hand accounts of what the work actually looks like, who is doing it and what it would mean to join them. This is your chance to get a close look at Germany's research culture before you even arrive.

Read the latest features
Researcher working at Synlight, the world's largest research facility for the generation of artificial sunlight, operated by the DLR Institute of Solar Research in Jülich.

DAAD/Jan Zappner

Research news

See all research news

Science does not wait. This section brings together fresh findings, announcements and breakthroughs from universities and institutes across Germany – updated continuously to keep you in the loop. Use it to stay close to a discipline you are already working in, to spot emerging areas before they become crowded or simply to feel the pace of science in a country that invests more in R&D than almost anywhere else on earth.

A geochemical precursor of ATP
Chemical origin of life: Publication in FEBS Journal Where did the energy come from to power the chemical origin of life and how did phosphate come to be the universal energy currency of cells? Biologists from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have uncovered a new and surprising source of energy that drove primordial chemical reactions on the early Earth forward to kick-start metabolism. Their findings, now published in FEBS Journal, identify phosphite and palladium, compounds that naturally occur in H2-producing hydrothermal vents, as an inorganic precursor of ATP.
Oct 6, 2026, 5:29:56 PM

AdobeStock_1901547931

Concern over European biotech: the window for change is narrow – and closing fast
A new report by ESMT Berlin reveals an urgent need for action. Germany and Europe have only a very limited window of opportunity to close their structural gap in biotechnology. If they fail to do so, they risk permanently losing capital, talent, and companies. The pressure to act stems not from a single shortcoming, but from several structural bottlenecks along the entire innovation chain. What matters is whether existing resources are deployed in the right form, at the right time, and with a clear focus on successful company creation and growth.
Oct 6, 2026, 4:39:35 PM

Dietary fiber does not act alone in the microbiome
An HZI study shows that the effect of plant-based carbohydrates on Segatella copri also depends on which bacteria are already present in the gut.
Oct 6, 2026, 12:47:26 PM

Brushing Your Teeth Yourself Is Yesterday's News: If You Want Truly Clean Teeth, Let Technology Do the Work
Modern electric toothbrushes use extremely fast bristle movements and micro-vibrations to clean teeth abrasively. Even when used correctly, however, they typically remove no more than 70 percent of dental plaque. But what if plaque, food debris, and bacteria could be removed from 99 percent of all tooth surfaces, including interdental spaces and along the gumline, virtually at the push of a button and without any manual brushing at all? That is precisely the goal of the startup “dentson”, which relies on ultrasonic cavitation technology.
Oct 6, 2026, 12:28:26 PM

Carl Sermon and Ma'Shuqa

Triple Steps and Pirouettes: How Cultural Background Shapes Our Perception of Dance
An international research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, conducted an in-depth study of our experiences when watching dance. The results show that our acculturation to a particular culture influences how we interpret emotions in a dance and perceive beauty and meaning in movement. This study comprises three publications in academic journals. The most recent publication was just released in Perception.
Oct 6, 2026, 12:00:00 PM

Anna Mankowski

A symbiotic marketplace: Stability through flexibility
Brand loyal yet flexible: Small marine worms that live in close symbiosis with various bacteria are always open to new partnerships – and are therefore extremely successful.
Oct 6, 2026, 11:14:58 AM

A geochemical precursor of ATP
Chemical origin of life: Publication in FEBS Journal Where did the energy come from to power the chemical origin of life and how did phosphate come to be the universal energy currency of cells? Biologists from the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) have uncovered a new and surprising source of energy that drove primordial chemical reactions on the early Earth forward to kick-start metabolism. Their findings, now published in FEBS Journal, identify phosphite and palladium, compounds that naturally occur in H2-producing hydrothermal vents, as an inorganic precursor of ATP.
Oct 6, 2026, 5:29:56 PM

AdobeStock_1901547931

Concern over European biotech: the window for change is narrow – and closing fast
A new report by ESMT Berlin reveals an urgent need for action. Germany and Europe have only a very limited window of opportunity to close their structural gap in biotechnology. If they fail to do so, they risk permanently losing capital, talent, and companies. The pressure to act stems not from a single shortcoming, but from several structural bottlenecks along the entire innovation chain. What matters is whether existing resources are deployed in the right form, at the right time, and with a clear focus on successful company creation and growth.
Oct 6, 2026, 4:39:35 PM

Dietary fiber does not act alone in the microbiome
An HZI study shows that the effect of plant-based carbohydrates on Segatella copri also depends on which bacteria are already present in the gut.
Oct 6, 2026, 12:47:26 PM

Brushing Your Teeth Yourself Is Yesterday's News: If You Want Truly Clean Teeth, Let Technology Do the Work
Modern electric toothbrushes use extremely fast bristle movements and micro-vibrations to clean teeth abrasively. Even when used correctly, however, they typically remove no more than 70 percent of dental plaque. But what if plaque, food debris, and bacteria could be removed from 99 percent of all tooth surfaces, including interdental spaces and along the gumline, virtually at the push of a button and without any manual brushing at all? That is precisely the goal of the startup “dentson”, which relies on ultrasonic cavitation technology.
Oct 6, 2026, 12:28:26 PM

Carl Sermon and Ma'Shuqa

Triple Steps and Pirouettes: How Cultural Background Shapes Our Perception of Dance
An international research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, conducted an in-depth study of our experiences when watching dance. The results show that our acculturation to a particular culture influences how we interpret emotions in a dance and perceive beauty and meaning in movement. This study comprises three publications in academic journals. The most recent publication was just released in Perception.
Oct 6, 2026, 12:00:00 PM

Anna Mankowski

A symbiotic marketplace: Stability through flexibility
Brand loyal yet flexible: Small marine worms that live in close symbiosis with various bacteria are always open to new partnerships – and are therefore extremely successful.
Oct 6, 2026, 11:14:58 AM
See all research news
Map background