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Startups and Innovations

UA Ruhr Innovation Bridge: WorldFactory x Vancouver

On October 14, 2025, we had the pleasure of attending the UA Ruhr Innovation Bridge: WorldFactory x Vancouver event organized by the Universitätsallianz Ruhr. Representing the innovation landscape of Ruhr University Bochum, the delegation included university-affiliated start-ups, professors, and experts in research and knowledge transfer. The event focused on key topics, including research transfer, funding opportunities, and strengthening relations between universities and industry.

Global Health

Transatlantic Innovation Forum: Healthcare & Life Sciences

The Transatlantic Innovation Forum: Healthcare & Life Sciences was a joint initiative of the German Centers for Research and Innovation (DWIH) in San Francisco and New York, in collaboration with the Joachim Herz Foundation. Taking place at the Joachim Herz House in Covington, Georgia, an hour outside of Atlanta, this event brought together leading voices from science, industry, and policy to strengthen transatlantic partnerships and explore innovative solutions to pressing global health challenges. Participants included researchers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers discussing biotech breakthroughs, health-data interoperability, and regulatory alignment. Key panels showcased successful transatlantic partnerships and highlighted the need for stronger bridges between academia and industry. 

Transatlantic Podcast

Coffee Connections: A Conversation with Diplomat Oliver Schramm

This episode offers an engaging mix of personal narrative, institutional history, and forward-looking perspectives on science, research, and educational exchange between Germany and the U.S. West Coast. If you’re interested in the evolution of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH) or EU–US academic collaboration through the lens of a seasoned diplomat, it’s definitely worth a listen.

Science Slam

Falling Walls Lab 2025

On April 30th, we held our annual Falling Walls Lab, a world-class pitch competition and networking forum for students, researchers, and early-career scientists of all disciplines. This year, we had eight wonderful presentations, a top-notch jury, and an auditorium of enthusiastic spectators!

Global Health

DWIH Innovation Summit 2025

DWIH San Francisco hosted its inaugural Innovation Summit on February 27, 2025 at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. This event focused on the crucial issue of data sharing across sectors, institutions, and international borders, particularly in the context of global health. Experts from Germany and the Bay Area convened to explore collaborative strategies to address major health challenges at the nexus of life sciences, artificial intelligence, and data exchange. Photos from the summit can be viewed here. A comprehensive report can be found here.

Newsletter Special

Five Questions for Melanie Ott

We had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Melanie Ott from the Gladstone Institutes, which is partnering with us to host the inaugural Global Health Innovation Summit in February. Melanie Ott’s lab studies viruses that infect humans, and applies the lessons learned to new and emerging viruses. The Ott Lab combines broad expertise—in virology, cell biology, biochemistry, systems biology, and chromatin biology—with a diverse and highly collaborative approach.

Shaping the Future of Innovation from the Bay Area

Emerging Technology and Geopolitics

This week, DWIH San Francisco hosted an international panel bringing together tech diplomats and representatives from industry to explore the evolving role of diplomacy in an era defined by rapid technological change. The discussion highlighted how nations are rethinking their strategies to navigate the complex intersection of technology, geopolitics, and innovation.

Transatlantic Exchange

Beyond Generative AI: Innovative Germany Seminar

This seminar was an opportunity for Bay Area researchers and innovators to connect with representatives from Germany’s innovation and excellence clusters. Profs. Sören Auer and Mira Mezini, representing German universities of excellence, highlighted potential partnerships and research collaborations with Germany in artificial intelligence.

A Conversation Between Nadine Strossen and Erwin Chemerinsky 

Free Speech at American Universities 60 Years After the Free Speech Movement

On a recent evening at the University of California, Berkeley, a panel gathered to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the historic Free Speech Movement. The event featured legal scholars Nadine Strossen, former president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. The discussion, moderated by Julia Schaletzky, co-chair of Heterodox Academy in Berkeley, addressed the current state of free speech on campuses, the legal environment, and the tensions between free speech and inclusion.

Bay Area Innovation Program

GUILD Women in Entrepreneurship Program

DWIH San Francisco welcomed an inaugural cohort of 100 women who took part in an eight-week hybrid program (April 1, 2024 – May 24, 2024) for entrepreneurship that focused on German researchers. The ten finalists were invited to San Francisco in September for an in-person summit.