31. January 2007 Helmholtz Head Office
Speech by Prof. Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association at the New Year’s Reception 2007 on 31 January 2007
At the Helmholtz Association’s New Year’s Reception on 31 January 2007 in Berlin, President Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek took a look ahead at the coming year and presented the new strategy of the Helmholtz Association.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues and Guests,
I am very pleased to see you all here at the Helmholtz Association New Year's Reception. January is always peppered with a series of important receptions. And today, on the last day of the month, we would like to take this opportunity to have a look forward at the coming year. The Helmholtz Association had a very good 2006. To name just a few of our achievements: We managed to maintain our position as a university partner in the Initiative for Excellence; we expanded our network of universities and companies; we made solid progress with the Helmholtz Alliances and in our work to set up the biomedical translational centres.
We had a brisk start to 2007 with the second round of the Initiative for Excellence and the beginning of Germany's EU Council presidency. We should take advantage of the current tailwind, which is why I will talk about three particular passions of mine today: new forms of cooperation, our role in Europe and a possible National Energy Initiative for Germany.
Ladies and gentlemen, the science and research landscape in Germany is flourishing. But in order to make full use of its impressive potential we need new forms of cooperation between research institutes and universities and between research and industry. For as I like to say, "the true egoist cooperates". We need "strategic partnerships of a whole new quality." By this I mean long-term cooperation on selected areas of research. A partnership of this kind must be reliable and resilient, it must have structures and development plans which everyone knows and agrees on, it must have clear governance, and offer the greatest possible entrepreneurial freedom. It could take the form of a new, joint organisation. But I am not talking about a merger of facilities or a reorganisation of institutions; I am talking about a merger of expertise.
You can find examples for how a partnership of this nature might work in our brochure "The Helmholtz Association Strategy". We developed this strategy in cooperation with many thousands of employees of our Association. You are the first to receive a copy of this brochure. Later you may like to take the opportunity to speak to the board members of the Centres, almost all of whom are here today. Because the Centres is where the actual work takes place: top-level research into the most pressing questions facing in science, society and industry.
The Pact for Research and Innovation has given us the scope to invest our energies into other activities such as expanding the Helmholtz Alliances. Equipped with the required critical mass, the Alliances set out to tackle key topics of future relevance, establishing themselves as beacons of international excellence in the process. In these Alliances, we will be working with partners from other research institutes and companies, both from Germany and abroad, and will make rapid progress together. The Pact for Research and Innovation also helps us to strengthen networks with universities and give even more support to the new generation of scientists. There are now 75 virtual institutes involving over 52 different universities and a number of foreign partners. We are now also supporting 70 Helmholtz Young Investigator Groups, the leaders of which are sure to enjoy improved career opportunities.
We do not merely enjoy a good reputation here in Germany; we are also regarded as a strong, reliable partner across Europe. Our experience in setting up and managing large-scale facilities is appreciated at European level, a fact which the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, or ESFRI for short, has now also recognised. Of a total of 35 large-scale research projects which ESFRI has placed on its roadmap for the expansion of the European research landscape, almost half are partially or primarily the responsibility of the Helmholtz Centres.
The Helmholtz Association is the German research organisation which has been most successful in attracting EU funding. Our researchers are currently participating in around 570 projects; we have a 35% success rate in EU applications; for infrastructural applications the figure is as high as 70%. We are involved in building the first full-scale nuclear fusion experimental reactor, ITER, in Cadarache in France. The German side of the project loyally supported the bid for the French location from the outset, a level of support we would also like to receive from our international partners in the financing of two other important future projects: the XFEL X-ray laser in Hamburg and the FAIR ion accelerator facility in Darmstadt. The XFEL will be used to film chemical reactions with an extremely high spatial resolution and time resolution. FAIR will also be able to create antiprotons and exotic ions for nuclear physics experiments in a targeted way. Both facilities are eagerly awaited by scientists. However, in both cases some of the costs have to be borne by the international research community. It is a well-known fact that things are never easy when money is at stake. Of course, it is difficult for the German government to negotiate these terms with other EU countries, China and Russia. But it must see to it that lip service is transformed into actual agreements.
When we speak of Europe, the issues of the European Research Council and a European Institute of Technology inevitably crop up. The European Research Council will make decisions based purely on scientific excellence, independently of proportional representations and individual national interests, and will establish itself as an important European funding body for science. The exact role of a possible European Institute of Technology is not clear yet, but such an institute is definitely in the making. We must make use of the momentum created by our EU Presidency to develop a concept of real practical value for Europe. But the EU must put up the money to do that, not by siphoning it off from other areas of research funding, but by providing money from a fresh source. I will be taking part in the discussions on the shape and function of a European Institute of Technology. It will certainly be a virtual institution, whose aim will be to accelerate innovations and secure Europe's role as a research location in a globalised world. Research institutes, universities and company R&D departments could come together to form Knowledge and Innovation Communities, which would form the pillars of the new institute. These are exciting European perspectives, and we can look forward to an eventful year.
But major challenges also await us at national level. The German government's High-Tech Strategy identified 17 areas which should be more closely addressed. The area that grabbed me immediately, and which is of particular interest to the Helmholtz Association because of its immediate relevance to other Helmholtz research fields such as Earth and Environment and Key Technologies, is that of "Energy". German energy research experts have come together in the Helmholtz Association to work on long-term projects such as fusion research, as well as other short and medium-term projects which could help relieve our energy supply problems in the near future.
Of course it is clear where a sensible energy policy needs to start: in energy conservation, in improved efficiency and in the use of renewable fuels such as solar power and biomass. There have been excellent approaches to these three research fields, which all have massive potential. We must double our efforts, speed up research and get new developments implemented more quickly. In order to do this we need to set up a national initiative for investigating energy technologies. In concrete terms, I can envisage a strategic public-private partnership involving the leading energy companies and research institutes in Germany. This initiative would require a budget of two billion euros over ten years, a sum which would be shared between government and industry. The Helmholtz Association would play a key role, as befits its mission of solving the grand challenges facing society, science and industry through top-level research.
Finally, I would like to reveal the motto for our next Annual General Assembly on 12 September 2007: "Bright Minds for a Bright Future!" Scientific progress is the result of the endeavours of gifted men and women who may be able to change the world. Talent management is one of our most important tasks. That is why we are now establishing a Helmholtz Management Academy. But we want to start much earlier and inspire the next generation of bright minds with a love of nature and technology. We got together with McKinsey, Siemens and the Dietmar Hopp Foundation to set up the "Tiny Tots Science Corner" initiative, where children learn through play. You are very welcome to support this ambitious project by becoming a sponsor.
To close I would like to recap the points I have made here briefly. First: we are establishing new forms of strategic partnerships with research institutes, universities and companies to work on topics of vital significance for the future at both national and international level. Secondly: the Helmholtz Association has established itself as a key figure in the European research community, particularly for its experience in building and managing large-scale facilities. We are leading participants in the ITER project and are optimistic that we can lay the foundations for the XFEL this summer. Thirdly: we must speed up progress in the field of energy efficiency and renewable fuels. This will increase prosperity and security, and benefit our environment. Consequently, as much passion and commitment is required for these endeavours as was invested in the project to put a man on the moon.
