Agency for Breakthrough Innovations

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Anja Karliczek and Peter Altmaier today appointed Prof. Dietmar Harhoff as the chair of the commission to found the Agency to Promote Breakthrough Innovations. The founding commission is providing the Federal Government with advice about the selection process for the Agency’s board of directors and location. It will support the establishment of the Agency until it is formally founded.

“The establishment of the founding commission is a key element of the process to set up the Agency for Breakthrough Innovations. We are getting experts from the innovation, scientific, business and policymaking communities around our table,” said Minister Karliczek. “We will work together on successfully bringing ideas with the potential of delivering breakthrough innovations to market in Germany.”

The founding commission is composed of people with experience with innovation in science and industry and members of the Bundestag. Prof. Harhoff, the chair, is an internationally respected expert in innovation, entrepreneurship, strategic corporate management and industrial economics.

Minister Altmaier said: “I am delighted that we have been able to persuade Professor Harhoff to chair the founding commission. Having chaired the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation for twelve years, he is entirely familiar with Germany’s innovation system. His experience will enable the Agency to be put on the right track from the outset, heading to more successful breakthrough innovations made in Germany.”

Last year, the federal cabinet decided that an Agency to Promote Breakthrough Innovations should be set up, and that the Research and Economic Affairs Ministries would have the lead responsibility for this.

The new Agency is to launch innovations involving radically new technologies offering great potential to transform the market in the form of new products, services and value chains. In preparation for the founding of the Agency, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research will announce the first pilot competition in the field of AI electronics this month.

Further information:

The founding commission for the Agency to Promote Breakthrough Innovations consists of:

Prof. Dr. Dietmar Harhoff, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (chair)
Dr. Nanne Diehl-von Hahn, Telefónica Germany
Sabine Herold, DELO Industrie Klebstoffe
Dr. Ingmar Hoerr, CureVac AG
Prof. Dr. Achim Kampker, RWTH Aachen University, streetscooter GmbH
Dr. Stefan Kaufmann, Member of the German Bundestag
Andreas König, ProGlove
Rafael Laguna, Open Xchange
Alfred Möckel, Alubi Capital GmbH
Dr. Manja Schüle, Member of the German Bundestag
Catharina van Delden, innosabi GmbH
Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff, Goethe University Frankfurt/Main