Model Campus and Makerspace ringberlin
6. July 2023 - A new Berlin location is being created at the business area od Berlin-Mariendorf, where the future is being shaped: In the collaborative start-up centre of the model campus ringberlin, innovative companies, start-ups and talents will work in a makerspace on the impulses for technologies, concepts and solutions of tomorrow. For this purpose, a listed factory building is being modernised and extended by ringberlin in a manner befitting a listed building. Supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises and Berlin Partner, GRW-funded sub-areas below market rent will be made available here for interdisciplinary use at the interface between science and business.
The modernisation and extension of the factory building of the former Askania-Werke in accordance with the preservation order is scheduled to begin in autumn 2023. The historic buildings, which were still used for production and manufacturing until the late 1990s, and the sealed existing areas are now gradually becoming an open, park-like and ecologically certified model campus. With direct access to local transport, e-mobility services and sharing concepts, more than 5,000 people should be able to get to the campus in future as car-free and environmentally friendly as possible.
For Franziska Giffey, Mayor and Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Operations, the project is an important contribution to Berlin's economic and sustainable development: “Berlin is the German start-up capital and one of the most popular metropolises for founders worldwide. We want to stay that way and are therefore constantly improving the framework conditions for start-ups. Young companies urgently need spaces and places like this new campus, which brings business and science together in a targeted way and offers the necessary space to develop and implement new ideas. With the funding of 36 million euros from GRW funds, we are strengthening the local economic structure and ensuring that future start-ups will find attractive conditions at fair prices here. Mariendorf, the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district and all of Berlin will benefit from this.”
From the idea to the finished product - bundled together in one place: The makerspace is intended to make the cross-industry synergies on campus visible and usable for everyone. With space for workshops with machine infrastructure, coworking and office areas, maker garages and test areas, one of the largest European makerspaces offers optimum start-up conditions.
Dr. Stefan Franzke, CEO of Berlin Partner: “With ringberlin and the planned makerspace, we will soon have one of Europe's largest start-up centres in Berlin. This is another place where business and science grow together, where research, start-ups, companies, universities and culture meet, exchange ideas, enter into cooperation and create synergies. Impulses and innovations will also be created here and further distinguish Berlin as an international industrial location."