Science, Inventions and Marketing

In December 1998 the Beutenberg-Campus Jena e.V. was founded. It provides a platform for the development of innovative strategies and also serves to encourage cooperation among its members. In addition, the association represents the interests of the research establishments and start-up centres. There are eight research institutes on the Campus including the Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft doing research at state-of-the-art level. The two start-up centres do business under the names of Technologie- und Innovationspark Jena (TIP) and BioInstrumentezentrum (BIZ). They host more than fifty small biotechnology companies doing research for marketable products. All in all, there are more than 2,300 staff employed on the Campus. The total annual budget is approximately 70 million Euros.

Exchange and synergy

In November 2005, German President Horst Köhler singled out the Beutenberg Campus as a „Place of Ideas“. Inspired by this, the association donates the „Life Sciences and Physics award” to newly appointed PhDs or young scientists every year.

Sophisticated communication

A focus on science and art is visible in many campus activities. The public, which is increasingly interested in science, is treated to exhibitions and a series of lectures which highlight the research activities of excellent scientists. As part of the „Public lectures on the Beutenberg-Campus“ also referred to as „sophisticated communication“ and taking place twice a year, for example, the Nobel Prize winner Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard gave a lecture about the embryogenesis of vertebrates for more than 200 listeners.

The Beutenberg-Campus workshops

In order to facilitate productive collaborative efforts among young researchers, the first campus workshop, “Transfer of methods and concepts of biology and physics”, was organized in December 2006 and assisted by the recently founded “Jena School for Microbial Communication” (JSCM). Discussions centred on the possible application of methods in biomedical technology. How companies could work together and form the basis for new companies was a central theme.

Private

In addition to daily get-togethers over lunch, students and employees of the Beutenberg-Campus member institutes can meet with friends or colleagues at the weekly rehearsals of the „Campus Chamber Choir“, led by students of the Franz Liszt School of Music, Weimar. The a capella choir performs on the occasion of various public campus events.