Worldwide knowledge transfer
Connecting through research
The challenges of our time are global. A worldwide exchange among scientists is necessary to advance research and solve the toughest problems.
We want to connect the global scientific community. And we particularly want to support researchers in low- and middle-income countries.
That is why, in 2018, together with the non-governmental organization Seeding Labs, we launched the digital platform “TeleScience”. TeleScience is designed to connect scientists around the world, accelerating teaching and research. With this platform, scientists can view a variety of instructional videos led by our Life Science employees, ranging from practical tips on how to better present their research results to scientific instructions on topics such as sterile sampling or how to assemble a vacuum pump.
Did you know? We hand out awards and run promotional programs that recognize the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of scientists, students and entrepreneurs.
Our approach to science education:
Fostering curiosity
What do Nobel Laureates of all disciplines have in common? In our opinion: curiosity. Because only those who are curious try out new things - and maybe make discoveries that change the world.
We want to foster curiosity in children. Above all, we want to inspire students to pursue a career in one of the fields of STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
One example of how we foster curiosity is through our Curiosity Cube™; a re-fitted shipping container that has been converted into a mobile science laboratory. In 2018, it toured North America for the second year in a row. In the Curiosity Cube™ visitors of all ages can experience the latest technologies through practical experiments and can immerse themselves in various scientific topics. The Curiosity Cube™ provides students with tools and materials that many schools would not have access to otherwise.
A survey about the Curiosity CubeTM revealed:
- 81%
of the students use the concepts they learned in the Curiosity Cube™ at school.
- 95%
of the students improved their understanding of various life science topics such as animal cell communication, tissue and DNA by visiting the Cube.
The Curiosity CubeTM traveled 30,000 kilometers on its journey through North America.
Music brings people together:
East meets West
Hobby musicians from China and professionals from Germany unite in a common goal: to give a concert in front of an audience of 1,700 people.
We wanted to celebrate our 350th anniversary in 2018 through music. This is why we created an extraordinary cooperation between two unlikely partners. For this courageous project, the “Deutsche Philharmonie sponsored by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany” collaborated with the Chinese Beijing University.
Each Chinese hobby musician, all of whom were university students, was assigned to a professional from our orchestra who helped prepare for the big day. This experience benefited both sides, as the project was also about cultural exchange.
In November 2018, finally, the time had come: The students and the professional musicians of the philharmonic were on stage together in Beijing. The musical result was top-class and poignant. An intercultural cooperation that was, literally, music to the ears.
What we are proud of:
350 years of curiosity
Through our “Curious2018 - Future Insight Conference” we were able to attract the best minds in science and technology to Darmstadt in July 2018: top scientists from all over the world, including six Nobel Laureates.
In 2018, we celebrated our 350th birthday. That is reason enough to extend a special invitation to the scientific world. At Curious2018, we discussed the future of science and the technologies of tomorrow with top scientists and experienced business entrepreneurs. The figures speak for themselves:
- 60 renowned scientists including six Nobel Laureates
- 1,300 guests
The Future Insight Conference is expected to grow into the flagship conference of science in the future and will take place again in 2020. In 2019, we will award the Future Insight Prize for the first time. This prize is intended to promote the development of products that are of global importance to humanity. Over the next 35 years, we will be making up to € 1 million available annually just for this purpose.
Show video“Creating a better world for us all: That is the goal of the Future Insight Conference. It should be a forum in which the brightest minds from science and industry put their visionary ideas up for discussion.”
Ulrich Betz, Vice President Innovation, Head Innovation & Entrepreneurship Incubator, Head Future Insight
Connecting worlds through literature
Building bridges
Literature allows us to travel to the most remote corners of the earth in our minds. It helps us to understand other people and their view of things.
That is why the promotion of literary projects is an integral part of our social responsibility. We award five literary prizes worldwide. They are aimed primarily at authors who see themselves as bridge builders between cultures, but also between literature and science.
What do you think?
How many books have ever been published worldwide?
Answer
Nobody really knows. In 2010, Google provided estimates using its databases and intensive analysis. At that time, they estimated a total of 129,864,880 books. And more are being written every day.
Estimated number
129,864,880 books
Source: Google
Emanuel Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Lecture
Through the Emanuel Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Lecture, we want to give insights into cutting-edge research in the fields of chemistry and pharmaceutics. We also seek to promote the scientific exchange with internationally recognized researchers. The lectures are always held by renowned scientists and are accessible to the public.
We founded the Emanuel Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Lecture in 1992, together with the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. Through this award, we recognize world-renowned scientists who have made outstanding contributions to chemical and pharmaceutical research. Some of the winners are even Nobel Prize Laureates.
In 2018, the prize was awarded to Professor Jennifer Doudna of the University of California Berkeley. As with all award winners, she received a copy of the sculpture “The Juggler” by sculptor Lutz Brockhaus.
Future Insight Prize
We launched the Future Insight Prize on the occasion of our 350th company anniversary in 2018. We will award the prize, worth up to € 1 million annually, over the next 35 years. It recognizes scientists who make extraordinary contributions to bring about important innovations for the future of humankind in the categories of health, nutrition and energy.
In 2019, we will focus on the “health” category, rewarding ideas for developing a pandemic protection device that will allow faster protection against emerging pathogens.
Read more about the Future Insight Prize here.
Curious Mind Research Award and German Research Hall of Fame
The German Research Hall of Fame was launched in 2009 by the German “manager magazin” publication. Since 2015, we have jointly with “manager magazin” awarded this prize in order to promote better links between science and industry in Germany. It is a platform for bringing scientific achievements into the spotlight, introducing them to a wider audience.
The Curious Mind Research Award honors not only scientific excellence but also entrepreneurship. Its goal is to strengthen the dialogue between science and industry. The prize categories change annually: In 2018, categories were “Life Science” and “Digitalization and Robotics”. The categories for the year 2019 are “Materials and Agents” as well as “Mobility and Energy”. The Curious Mind Research Award is given out at the German Research Hall of Fame event.
Deutsche Philharmonie sponsored by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
What started in 1966 as a small factory orchestra has developed into a professional symphony orchestra with up to 100 professional musicians participating over the years.
Deutsche Philharmonie sponsored by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
Music is an important link between different cultures. The “Deutsche Philharmonie sponsored by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany” gives performances all around the world.
Deutsche Philharmonie sponsored by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
The orchestra’s repertoire includes all styles of music: from baroque and classical to contemporary pieces and film music. The “Deutsche Philharmonie sponsored by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany” is one of the most renowned independent orchestras on the German music scene.
Social Translating – new translation practice, Korea
In 2018, we conducted a social translating project in cooperation with the Goethe Institutes in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Ten translators from Asia came together using digital technology and translated German author Thomas Melle’s book “The world at your back” into their respective languages. Using a digital platform, the participants were able to work simultaneously and exchange ideas with each other and with the author in real time.
Johann Heinrich Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Award, Germany
The Johann Heinrich Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Award has been awarded by the German Academy for Language and Poetry since 1964. It is financed by our company and handed out annually during the autumn conference of the “Deutsche Akademie” in Darmstadt.
Prize money: € 20,000
Winner 2018: Martin Pollack, Austrian author and translator
Premio Letterario of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Italy
The Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Literature Prize is awarded to authors in Italy who make comparisons between science and literature in their essays and novels or who combine both topics. The aim of the prize is to arouse interest in scientific culture. In addition, current topics such as new possibilities in medicine, genetics or biotechnology are to be made accessible to a broad public.
Prize money: € 10,000
Winner 2018: Carl Safina, American naturalist, author and professor
Special prize of the jury, 2018: Lucio Russo, Italian physicist and science historian
La scienza narrata, Italy
The Italian creative writing competition “La scienza narrata” is aimed at school students. They are a target group for whom science often seems far away from daily life. To qualify for the prize, young people write essays or short stories with which they show how relevant science is to our everyday lives. A jury selects the two best contributions. In addition, a special prize is assigned to the content “Most voted from the web”. The texts from the finalists are also published online.
Prize money: € 1,000 for essay and short story category and a € 100 book voucher for the “web award”
Winner 2018 in the “essay” category: Sara d‘Anna (aged 18)
Winner 2018 in the “short story” category: Andrea Muratore (aged 18)
Winner 2018 in the “web award” category: Concetta Nilo (aged 16)
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany-Kakehashi literature prize, Japan
Together with the Goethe Institute in Tokyo, we annually award the Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany-Kakehashi literature prize to authors and translators. With this prize, we promote contemporary German-language literature in Japan and honor the special achievements of translators.
Prize money: € 20,000
Winners 2018: Clemens J. Setz and Ayano Inukai
Translation Award of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Russia
Together with the Goethe Institute in Moscow and with the support of the local German Embassy, we hand out the Translation Award of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and the Goethe sponsorship award once every two years. The Translation Award of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany honors translations of German-language titles into Russian. The Goethe prize is awarded for an outstanding first publication.
Prize money: € 4,000
Winner 2018 in the category “fiction”: Nina Fedorowa
Winner 2018 in the category “Children’s and Youth Book”: Ekaterina Aralova
Winner 2018 in the category “Popular scientific literature”: Natalia Stillmark
Winner of the Goethe sponsorship award 2018: Tatiana Zborovskaja
Tagore Award of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, India
We launched the Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany Tagore Prize in 2011, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Indian literary Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Our company has a close bond with the writer: Elisabeth Wolff-Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany from the Merck family translated his play “Chitra” from English into German. Her husband Kurt Wolff published Tagore’s works in Germany and thus helped the poet become a renowned writer. With this award, we honor people who have rendered outstanding services to the cultural exchange between Germany and India.
The Tagore Award of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has been awarded three times so far, with the next time being in 2019.
