Research and Technology Transfer

Research and Research Funding

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz focuses on research in clearly defined fields and hereby meets one of the key requirements for achieving competitiveness in the international arena. As a comprehensive university, JGU is able to identify – from the wide range of disciplines on offer – potential core research areas in competition-based and quality-based processes; these research areas then receive targeted support. With its executive committee of leading researchers based at JGU and its non-university research partner institutes, the Gutenberg Research College (GRC) plays a major part in determining the focus of the university, an aspect that is subject to continuous review and modification. JGU also uses the GRC to promote individual excellence in order to enhance its position as one of the leading research-driven universities in Germany and increase its international competitiveness.

JGU's profile-building strategy is based on three primary approaches:

• Continuing promotion of core research fields
• Specific support of the humanities and social sciences
• Targeted support of the interdisciplinary interfaces between medicine and the natural sciences

JGU's success in Germany's Excellence Strategy program shows that this strategy is working: In 2018, the research network PRISMA⁺ (Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter) was recognized as a Cluster of Excellence. With its forerunner PRISMA and the graduate school Materials Science in Mainz (MAINZ) JGU had previously been successful in the Excellence Initiative.

The research profile of JGU is particularly characterized by the following top-level areas:

• Particle and hadron physics at the PRISMA⁺ Cluster of Excellence
• Research into materials sciences
• Research into translational medicine

JGU has identified 13 additional top-level areas which receive major funding from the State of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Knowledge and Technology Transfer

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) sees itself as an integral part of society with which it works closely and openly; it perceives knowledge transfer as one of its primary objectives. JGU received national recognition for its transfer activities thanks to the success of the Mainz Research Alliance while competing for the 2011 "City of Science" title. In 2017, the university successfully underwent an audit by the Stifterverband; as a result JGU plans to extend its knowledge transfer activities and to align them with a strategic focus.

The transformation of the results of research into actual applications that can be employed by businesses and local administrations and, vice versa, the transposition of experience and new demands from the world of practice to the level of research are fundamental aspects of technology transfer at JGU. Important partners of JGU include BASF, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck and Schott. Successful JGU spin-offs include companies such as Biontech, Ganymed (recently aquired by Astellas Pharma Inc.), TRON, and StarSEQ.

The Startup Center at JGU, which is part of the joint Mainz Office of Entrepreneurship, facilitates the establishment of spin-offs. In addition, JGU participates in the pilot phase of Young Entrepreneurs in Science (YES), a continuing education program established by the Falling Walls Foundation. According to the "Reuters Top 100 – World's Most Innovative Universities 2019" ranking, JGU belongs to the top 100 most innovative universities in the world. In national comparison, JGU achieved an outstanding fourth place for the second year in a row.