Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

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Vahid Sandoghdar Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light

Erlangen

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in the German Landscape

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

Universities

Universities of

Applied Science

large research

infrastructures

research

& education “theoria cum praxi” basic research

applied

research

& education

applied research

Mission and Guiding Principles

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

• Basic research at cutting-edge, strictly

curiosity-driven

• Long-term high-trust system with

significant institutional core funding for

“high-risk” projects

• Scientific autonomy:

“scientists decide on science”

• Harnack principle –

“promoting people, not programs”

• Flexible, dynamic, interdisciplinary

research units: Max Planck Institutes

“Insight must

precede application”

Max Planck, 1858 – 1947

Founder of quantum theory Nobel Prize 1918

Max Planck Society at a Glance

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

As per June 2017; Numbers rounded

approx.

Three Scientific Sections

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

Biology and Medicine

Section

40 %* 50 %* 10 %*

Humanities and Social

Sciences Section

Chemistry, Physics, and

Technology Section

*estimated proportion of total budget

Decentralised Management

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

…manages its own budget

…recruits its personnel

…acquires additional third-party funds (research grants)

…selects research topics

…identifies co-operation partners in Germany and worldwide

…shapes its research structure (projects/departments)

Each Max Planck Institute …

International Scientific Staff

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

International share of staff

Directors 1

• From outside Germany

304

109

35.9%

Max Planck Research Group Leaders 1

• From outside Germany

125

50

40.0%

Postdocs

• From outside Germany

2,693

1,938

72.0%

Visiting scientists

• From outside Germany

1,765

955

54.1%

PhD students

• From outside Germany

3,339

1,829

54.8%

Internationalisation of MPG: Exchange and Cooperation

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

138 3,199

650

357 188

1122

15

130

92

186

862

65

20 61

104

76

120

Junior & visiting scientists in 2017 in total: 15,400 (ca. 9000 from abroad)

307

International Doctoral Program (IMPRS)

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

• PhD student training in cooperation with

universities

• 66 IMPRS (> 3,100 PhD students)

• 78 Max Planck Institutes / 38 universities

involved

• About 55% of PhD students come from outside

Germany

© Franz Luthe

(As per 01/2017)

MAX PLANCK PARTNER GROUPS

Outstanding junior scientists from outside Germany establish a Partner Group in

their home country after a research residency at a Max Planck Institute

Best practice for successful “brain-circulation” and joint projects

More than 150 Partner Groups around the world since 1999

Measures of Internationalization

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

Max Planck Partner Groups

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

EUROPE

9 Partner Groups

Turkey 2

Croatia 1

Hungary 1

Spain 3

Poland 1

Czech Republic 1

SOUTH AMERICA

12 Partner Groups

Brazil 3

Argentina 4

Chile 4

Peru 1

ASIA

50 Partner Groups

India 33

China 16

Korea 1

Buenos Aires

Santa Fe

Campinas

Rio de Janeiro Serena

Viҫosa

Valparaíso

Santiago

Lanzhou

Beijing

Hefei Shanghai

Hubei

Seoul Daegu

Guwahati

Kolkata Kharagpur

Mumbai

Chennai

Mohali

New Delhi

Chandigarh

Hyderabad Pune Bhubaneswar/Odisha

Varanasi

Zagreb

Ankara

Istanbul

Budapest

Barcelona

Valencia

Pretoria

Chile & Columbia Tandem Groups

<600 <400 <200 <100 <50 <20

Overall Collaborations/projects

“Brain circulation”: a total of 72 Max Planck

Partner Groups are currently creating career

paths for international scientists in their home

countries

(total of 156 Partner Groups around the world

since 1999).

Kunming

Dalian

Jingnan

Roorkee

AFRICA

1 Partner Group

RSA 1

Trivandrum

Bangalore

Warsaw

Lima

As per January 2018

Prague

MAX PLANCK CENTERS

Flexible platform for scientific collaboration with international institutions

22 Max Planck Centers + Partner Institutes in Buenos Aires and Shanghai

Measures of Internationalization

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

Max Planck Centers Worldwide (20)

France:

Switzerland:

(2)

UK

(2):

Denmark:

India:

Israel:

(2)

Japan:

(2)

Canada:

(2)

Korea :

USA:

(4)

China:

Netherlands:

Max Planck-Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instabilities in Market Societies, Paris

Max Planck-EPFL Center for Molecular Nanoscience and Technology, Lausanne

Max Planck-ETH Center for Learning Systems, Zurich

Max Planck-UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London

Max-Planck-Cambridge Centre for the Studies of Ethics Human Economy an Social Change, Cambridge

Max Planck-Odense Center on the Biodemography of Aging, Odense

Indo-German Max Planck-NCBS Center on Lipid Research, Bangalore

Max Planck-Weizmann Center for Integrative Anthropology & Archaeology, Rehovot

Max Planck-Hebrew University Center for Sensory Processing of the Brain in Action, Jerusalem

Max Planck-RIKEN/ASI Center for Systems Chemical Biology, Tokyo

Max Planck-University of Tokyo Center for Integrative Inflammology, Tokyo

Max Planck-UBC Centre for Quantum Materials, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver

Max Planck-University of Ottawa Centre for Extreme and Quantum Photonics, Ottawa

Max Planck-POSTECH Center for Complex Phase Materials, Pohang

Max Planck-Princeton Research Center for Plasma Physics, Princeton

Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for Human History in the Ancient Mediterranean, Boston

Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for Quantum Optics, Boston

Max Planck-Yale Center for Biodiversity Movement and Global Change, New Heaven

Max Planck-GIBH Joint Center for Regenerative Biomedicine, Guangzhou

Twente-Max Planck Center for Complex Fluid Dynamics, Enschede

As per September 2017

Technology Transfer in the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (although we do basic research)

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Co-operation with FhG

Co-operation with

enterprises

Spin-offs

Licenses Lead

Discovery Center

Incubators

TechTransfer- credit limit

Public-Private-Partnerships

Examples of MPG Products

M A X - P L A N C K - G E S E L L S C H A F T | International Relations 2018

STED

Standard

• Polyethylene & polypropylene (Ziegler catalysis)

• Decaffeinated coffee (Zosel “CO2 destraction”

• Magnetic resonance imaging (Frahm, Hase fast image capture)

• Paternity test, forensics (Jäckle, Tautz STR analysis)

• Plant transformation (Leemans, Schell Ti plasmid)

• Cancer drug Sutent (Ullrich kinase inhibitor)

• Super-resolution microscopy

(Hell STED)

Thank you for your attention!