Helmholtz Association

The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers was created in 1995 to formalise existing relationships between several globally-renowned independent research centres. The Helmholtz Association distributes core funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to its, now, 19 autonomous research centers and evaluates their effectiveness against the highest international standards.  

The Helmholtz Association performs cutting-edge research which contributes substantially to solving the grand challenges of science, society and industry. Helmholtz Association scientists focus on researching the highly-complex systems which determine human life and the environment, for example: ensuring that society remains mobile, ensuring that society has a reliable energy supply, ensuring that future generations live in a secure ecosystem, and developing treatments for previously incurable diseases.

The activities of the Helmholtz Association focus on securing the long-term foundations of human life and on creating the technological basis for a competitive economy. Our potential, as an Association, to achieve these goals is due to the outstanding scientists working at our 19 major research centres, a high-performance infrastructure and modern research management.