German Center for Research and Innovation – DWIH opens in New York

Foto by: photographer: beowulfsheehan.com

by Michael Weiss

On February 19 a new home for both German and American students, scientists, and industry professionals was created in New York. The German Center for Research & Innovation (DWIH Deutsches Wissensafts- und Innovationshaus), a new organization designed to strengthen ties between German researchers and their American counterparts, was officially opened by visiting dignitaries and industry leaders, led by German cabinet minister for Education and Research, Dr. Annette Schavan.

“Let us build a new science partnership between Germany and the United States,” Minister Schavan said in her speech. “A partnership which is based on shared values and stands up for this common basis of values confidently in the world.”

Coming the day after Minister Schavan signed the first Science and Technology Agreement between the U.S. and Germany on February 18 in Washington D.C., the opening of the DWIH is another sign of German science reaching out to better engage the world. The DWIH concept was created by the German Foreign Office and Dr. Schavan’s Ministry of Education and Research, and will be administered jointly by the German Research Foundation (DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst). Besides the New York office, there are plans to open similar offices of DWIH in Moscow, New Delphi, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo.

“It’s a one-stop shop,” Dr. Matthias Kleiner, president of DFG, said to describe the new center. “German science is very diverse, and this will be an opportunity for German scientists to present themselves. It will also be an address for young people to network and advance their research.”

German Ambassador to the U. S., Dr. Klaus Scharioth, spoke at length about the heritage of German and American cooperation, the similar problems each nation now faces, and the solutions that could be found through shared scientific support. “Exchange is of the essence,” he said. “The problems of the world are complex and can only be met if we work together closely.”

Other presenters at the DWIH opening included Dr. Horst Freitag, Consul General of Germany to the United Nations, Dr. Max Huber, vice president of the DAAD, and Madeleine Jacobs, executive director and ceo of the American Chemical Society.

Perhaps the most intriguing presentation of the afternoon was saved for last, and was given by MIT’s Dr. Wolfgang Ketterle. Well over six-feet tall, the 2001 Nobel laureate in physics spoke about one of the tiniest configurations of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate. Long held to be merely theoretical until realized in Ketterle’s lab, the condensate reveals a startling property of matter when super-cooled, one which lends ordinary objects nearly magical abilities of electrical conductivity.

Asked if there were one main goal for the new German Center for Research & Innovation, Dr. Schavan said, “To bring people together who have a passion for research.”

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