"High Five" for the Potsdam Science Park – Five New Ambassadors Advance for the Future of the Growing Science and Business Location

A "Gravitational Field" for Researchers

For Professor Dr Peter H. Seeberger, the Potsdam Science Park is already one of the leading international science locations in the field of chemistry. According to the director of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI), the high concentration of cutting-edge scientific research in the Potsdam Science Park acts like a 'gravitational field' for dedicated researchers. "The Potsdam Science Park has developed into one of the leading campuses in the capital region," says Seeberger, who is one of the five new ambassadors of the Potsdam Science Park and is committed to the future of this area of innovation.

Seeberger conducts basic chemical research in Potsdam-Golm to solve contemporary medical problems, among others, and has supported several spin-offs, including GlycoUniverse, which has just been honoured with the Brandenburg Innovation Award and produces devices for the development of novel vaccines based on sugar molecules.

With the new portrait series, the site management Standortmanagement Golm GmbH presents a total of five renowned personalities from research and business, including institute directors and directors of the Fraunhofer and Max Planck Institutes as well as managing directors of successful companies and start-ups who are helping to shape the Potsdam Science Park as an innovation destination and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the German capital region Berlin-Brandenburg. As experts, they are committed to networking for the Potsdam Science Park, promoting transfer and cooperation or supporting start-ups in the scientific environment.

In compact portraits, the newly appointed ambassadors explain the research projects and innovations they are pursuing to improve the future – and why they are committed to the Potsdam Science Park. The texts are now available at potsdam-sciencepark.de. After a major relaunch, the Golm site management is bundling all the offers and services of the Potsdam Science Park on the newly designed website.

Future-Oriented Research Is Attractive for Companies

"The Potsdam Science Park enables the networking with industry that we urgently need," says ambassador Professor Dr Antje Baeumner, Head of the Bioanalytics and Bioprocesses Branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI-BB. The renowned bioanalyst works with the scientists at her institute to develop innovative sensors for pressing problems in medical diagnostics, food safety and environmental analysis. Together with partners from industry, she translates these into useful applications – for example, an intelligent bandage that can monitor the condition of wounds.

Antje Baeumner expects the Potsdam Science Park to attract further science-related companies from the fields of diagnostics, health, food safety and the pharmaceutical industry due to the many future-oriented research topics. "With the university, the Fraunhofer Institutes and industry, there are three important building blocks that are needed for successful knowledge transfer," says Bauemner.

Another major future topic at the Potsdam Science Park is the circular economy. Ambassador Professor Dr Alexander Böker, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP, is working with the scientists at his institute in Potsdam-Golm to develop sustainable plastics based on natural raw materials that are recyclable or even biodegradable – such as bio-based packaging films or strawberry films for agriculture that can replace petroleum-based variants.

For Alexander Böker, the Potsdam Science Park is a melting pot for ideas and innovations, which he has been actively promoting for many years. However, one that needs prominent advocates in order to continue its stellar career as a centre of innovation and firmly establish itself at the top of German science parks. "When promotion to the premier league is imminent, additional investment is required to boost performance," says Böker, who sees the exchange of ideas as an important factor for success. "Each institute is excellent in its own right, but it is only in the community that the spirit we need to drive innovation on a grand scale is created."

A Good Basis for Growth

The Potsdam Science Park is increasingly home to innovative companies from the health and life sciences that are already helping to shape the future with their ideas. The company biocyc, for example, has built a company headquarters here in 2023 to develop and produce urgently needed antibodies for cancer diagnostics and, in future, for cancer therapies. Managing Director Alexander Gorczyza wants to expand further – which is one of the reasons why he supports the Potsdam Science Park as an ambassador.

He values the Golm site above all for the many opportunities for cooperation with excellent research institutes and the University of Potsdam, the pool of specialists and the good connection to BER airport. »The Potsdam Science Park offers a perfect environment for expanding companies,« he says.

Ambassador Dr-Ing. Julia Eschenbrenner, Managing Director of POROUS, which has the ambitious goal of revolutionising the early detection of osteoporosis, shares a similar view. With its pioneering technology, POROUS aims to help prevent hundreds of thousands of bone fractures every year. The Potsdam Science Park has become a home for Eschenbrenner’s team. » It is a protected space in which we can realize our ideas and concentrate on working towards our goal,« she says. According to Eschenbrenner, the location also offers the necessary success factors for innovation: Space for development, exchange and, with the Golm site management, also a supportive and motivating force for spin-offs. "Very interesting minds are growing up here who can take their ideas out into the world." As an ambassador, she wants to contribute to this – and further promote the Potsdam Science Park.