Berlin – Berlin is one of the most important science locations in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people are employed here. And so it was a good fit that science was a top priority under the Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) for the past five years. He and his cleverly acting State Secretary Steffen Krach (SPD) brought the city forward visibly and successfully.
Both even managed what no one had done before: That the Basic Law was changed in order to be able to permanently integrate the new Berlin Institute for Health Research (BIG) – with 70 million euros annually from the federal government – into the Charité. They promoted the bundling of the strengths of the three major Berlin universities, which entered the nationwide University of Excellence competition for the first time – and won. Their balance sheet includes the fact that the most modern heart center in Europe is being built in Berlin-Wedding for 387 million euros and that the natural history museum is being converted into a leading campus for nature and society for 660 million euros.
But the question is: Will there be such a lucky coincidence in the future in order to successfully enforce the interests of science? Has the previous Kassel department head Ulrike Gote, as the new Senator for Science and Health, the experience and standing for it? Isn’t it going to be completely overwhelmed by the demands in the health sector in the middle of the pandemic?
Berlin scientists fear that things could go downhill. Many weeks ago a Berlin science initiative called for a round table with politicians. The initiators declared that further conditions would have to be created in order to expand the research metropolis.
The demands include: faster, less bureaucratic appointments of top researchers, funding for start-ups, better infrastructures, programs for more diversity. Berlin could use its chance to become a world leader in areas such as medicine, biodiversity and artificial intelligence. To do this, however, science must also be treated for what it is: the capital’s real future department.
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