The partners of the Deep Tech Award 2026

Economic and technology support for companies, investors, and research institutions in Berlin – that’s what the Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH offers. Numerous experts provide tailored services and excellent connections to the academic sector, creating an optimal offering to lead innovation, settlement, expansion, and location security projects to success. As a unique public-private partnership, Berlin Partner for Economy and Technology is supported by both the Senate of the State of Berlin and over 230 companies dedicated to their city. Additionally, Berlin Partner is responsible for the global marketing of the German capital.

MotionLab.Berlin ist ein in Berlin ansässiger Hardtech Innovation Hub und Makerspace mit Zugang zu einem exklusiven Maschinenpark für Prototyping in Kombination mit Coworking und Community. Zusätzlich zu Büroräumen verfügt
das Lab über verschieden große MakerGaragen, die individuell nach den Anforderungen des Kunden gestaltet werden können. Durch die einzigartige Infrastruktur bietet das MotionLab.Berlin jungen Gründer:innen ein optimales Umfeld für eine erfolgreiche Projektrealisierung und Unternehmensentwicklung. Neben dem Aufbau eines starken Netzwerks mit Partner:innen, Hersteller:innen, Investor:innen und Kund:innen profitieren Mitglieder von einem klaren Wettbewerbsvorteil durch schnellere Produktentwicklung und reduzierte Entwicklungskosten.

Underpinned by these ideals, SIBB fosters dynamic exchanges beyond the digital realm. In an age of widespread digitization, it extends expertise to diverse industries. Through forums, training, and collaborative events, SIBB promotes collaboration and knowledge growth. Facilitating joint projects and participating in trade shows, it supports over 250 member companies, including tech giants, startups, and research institutions.

KI Park is an AI ecosystem founded in 2021 by twelve renowned organizations, including Celonis, Deloitte, Schaeffler, and Volkswagen. KI Park unites research institutions, start-ups and scale-ups, established companies, investors as well as social and political actors. With over 220 member companies, KI Park offers its members a platform on which they can actively initiate their own cross-sector and cross-organisational projects. The association enables and supports its members in exchanging knowledge, advancing their ideas and finding suitable AI technologies for their individual challenges. KI Park offers access to know-how, state-of-the-art technologies and a broad network of founders, AI experts and researchers. Learn more about the KI Park at: www.kipark.de

IBB Ventures has been providing venture capital to innovative Berlin-based companies since 1997 and has established itself as the market leader in early stage financing. The funds are primarily used for development and market launch of innovative products or services as well as for business concepts from creative industries. In addition to the two VC funds for technology and creative companies with a volume of EUR 90 million, an impact VC fund with a volume of EUR 30 million has been in the investment phase since 2022. All VC funds are financed by the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), managed by the State of Berlin.

Silicon Allee is the venture lab of the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute, one of Germany’s leading applied research institutions. They connect the institute’s research with external startups operating in fields aligned with HHI’s core competencies, ranging from AI to photonics and quantum technologies. Selected startups gain access to institute resources, infrastructure, and more. Silicon Allee is currently looking to support and fund startups building solutions in explainable AI and 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS).

The Federal Agency for Leap Innovations SPRIND was founded in 2019 and is based in Leipzig. Its sole shareholder is the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). SPRIND fills a gap in the German innovation landscape: it finds new, groundbreaking technologies for the major challenges of our time and at the same time ensures that the added value of the resulting companies and industries remains in Germany and Europe. SPRIND is funded by the German federal budget. SPRIND is managed by Rafael Laguna de la Vera and Berit Dannenberg.

The Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH has created the platform “#ai_berlin” in collaboration with the Cluster for ICT, Media, and Creative Industries, along with other partners, to showcase current and future developments, flagship projects, inspiring stories, networks, initiatives, and experts in Berlin and Brandenburg to the national and international AI community in one place. The goal is to connect technology companies, startups, research institutions, and talent on a single platform and make Berlin more visible and stronger as an AI hub.

The VDE, one of Europe’s largest technology organizations, has stood for innovation and technological progress for more than 130 years. As the only organization in the world, VDE combines science, standardization, testing, certification, and application advice under one roof. For over 100 years, the VDE symbol has been synonymous with the highest safety standards and consumer protection.

AI NATION is the national platform for AI startups in Germany. It was created through collaboration between the Artificial Intelligence Entrepreneurship Center (K.I.E.Z.) in Berlin and AI+MUNICH and connects regional ecosystems.
AI NATION promotes science-based start-up projects in the field of AI, offers access to investors and industry partners, and thus also supports AI start-ups in scaling up.
AI NATION is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and EXIST and co-financed by the State of Berlin.

Science & Startups is the joint start-up service of Berlin’s TU, HU and FU universities in close cooperation with Charité. It supports students, researchers and alumni in transforming ideas and innovations into scalable and sustainable start-ups. The service includes business model consulting, academy and mentoring, financing (e.g. EXIST, BSS, VC), IP transfer, laboratory infrastructure and the search for co-founders and team members via matchem. In addition, Science & Startups strengthens the DeepTech ecosystem with launchpads such as AI NATION, xG-Incubator, LEAP and greenCHEM.

Get Started is the startup initiative of the Digital Association Bitkom and is aimed at founders and employees of startups. Tech startups can become members for €100/year during the first six years after founding. Bitkom actively supports them by providing access to decision-makers, networking with established companies, high-quality events, and up-to-date information on market developments and legislative proposals. On the political front, the Digital Association advocates for young growth companies at the regional, national, and EU levels. More than 700 tech startups are already members of Bitkom

As House of Industry Tech, the Werner-von-Siemens Centre for Industry and Science e. V. (WvSC) brings together expertise from industry, SMEs, startups, science, and research to develop innovations for industrial transformation. It combines the fields of research, education, innovation, and transfer with a strong network to put future technologies into practice and prepare companies for change. Its own Industry Startup Hub, co-creation spaces, and a real-world laboratory ensure the application-oriented transfer of research results and solutions into real industrial environments and value creation.

The Commerzbank Startup Hub is the central point of contact for startup founders who want to successfully build and scale their company. With a comprehensive range of banking and financing solutions, personalised advice and digital tools, Commerzbank supports startups at every stage of their growth. In addition to traditional banking services, the Startup Hub offers access to the strong networks of a major international bank. Thanks to this combination of financial expertise and strategic support, founders benefit from optimal conditions for successful business development and sustainable growth.

Since 2015, the annual Rise of AI Conference has been bringing together AI experts, decision-makers, thought leaders, and visionaries to discuss Artificial Intelligence for society, politics, and the economy. Veronika & Fabian Westerheide, as hosts, shape and connect the German AI ecosystem.