Science Magazine reports (h/t: Kevin Stolarick):
Berlin’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit, likes to joke that the city is “poor but
sexy.” He may now want to add “and smart.” Despite chronic budget shortfalls,
Berlin’s city government has pledged €160 million ($250 million) over the next 4
years to attract top researchers to the city’s four main universities as well as
its research institutes.The impetus for the “Berlin International Forum for Excellence” came from
Jürgen Zöllner, the city’s senator for science and education. He initially
proposed a new “superuniversity,” but the city’s existing universities feared
that the new institution would lure away their best talent. Instead, the city
will set up a foundation that will identify existing “areas of excellence” and
distribute funds to top up salaries of world-class researchers, set up graduate
schools, and attract visiting scholars to the city.Berlin’s universities and scientific institutes will work together in
governing the new foundation, Zöllner said in announcing the plan yesterday.
It’s a chance to make Berlin “one of the most important locations for research
in the world,” he crowed. That level of collaboration is unusual, says former
federal undersecretary for research Wolf-Michael Catenhusen, whom Zöllner
charged with negotiating an alternative to the superuniversity. “It is as if
MIT, Harvard, and Boston University were all to cooperate on a project.”
Catenhusen says the foundation’s planners hope to attract additional private
donations to boost the pot of funds.
My colleague, Stolarick notes that: “”To help put the size of the investment into perspective, Berlin had
a population of 3.4 million in 2006.” The competition for talent is heating up.
