Berlin Science Week is an annual science festival from 1 to 10 November that brings together thousands of people from the worlds of science, business, politics, the arts, and society at large.
As a global hub, it is our mission to strengthen vibrant and diverse scientific networks as well as to facilitate a fruitful, open, and interdisciplinary dialogue between science and society.
Guided by the leitmotif ‘Dare to Know’, we partner with organisations from around the globe to showcase scientific excellence, promote debates on the world‘s major challenges, and find new, interactive, and fun ways to make science, research, and innovation engaging.
An inspiring science festival
Berlin Science Week was established in 2016 on the backdrop of the international Falling Walls Science Summit, which takes place annually on 7-9 November in Berlin. The Summit honours the year’ s best scientific breakthroughs and provides the stage to discuss solutions science may offer in combating the biggest challenges of our time. With renowned scientists and global leaders from politics, business and media in town, we sought to share the achievements, impulses and impacts created by the global science community beyond the walls of the Summit.
In cooperation with local, national and international organisations from science and its allied fields, a festival has since evolved that gathers over the course of 10 days over 200 events, 600 contributors and more than 20,000 participants at various venues in the city and online. With the Campus at the striking Museum für Naturkunde Berlin we have further established a central festival hub for events, exhibitions and networking opportunities.
As versatile as our society
With each year we gain more brilliant organisations to share their work and invaluable knowledge through field trips, workshops, panel discussion, science slams, hackathons, meet-ups, keynotes and many more activities.
The event contributions are driven by topics such as climate protection and justice, a growing platform economy, advances in AI and machine learning, the future of food, an ever transforming urban society, prospects of digital healthcare, ideas for a circular economy, promotion of equality, a shift to sustainable building, support for science entrepreneurship and further matters that also address, what it means to learn and work in the scientific landscape.
Two years into the pandemic: digitalisation & new audiences
In the light of the pandemic Berlin Science Week transformed into an all-digital festival in 2020. One year later, we were able to hold smaller events in person again, alongside other digital and hybrid formats.
As an international science festival, we have become well aware of the benefits of digital events. We greatly appreciate the ability to reach out to people around the globe and include them in the discourse thanks to the easy access. At the same time, we all remember the unique energy that comes to life in a shared space – which we have come to miss in so many ways over the last two years.
For 2022, we hope to meet more in person again, but there will also be plenty on offer digitally.
More important than ever: Coming together for dialogue and debate
At a time when facts are being questioned, concerns about our planetary future rise and social discourse is shifting apart, we are convinced that a platform for engaging in dialogue about the present and future of the world is more important than ever.
We therefore welcome all knowledge-seekers and forward-thinkers to connect, learn, discuss and develop ideas to meet the challenges of our time, unlock new collaborative opportunities, and help shape a better future.
How to get involved
Join our mission and get involved if you are a national or international university, a research institution, a science-based start-up or an innovative business, a science engagement & science policy initiative, or an interdisciplinary science project in arts & culture.
Find more information here.
