Laboratories of the Pioneer Spirit Von Maren Soehring

Science magazine has just named the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics as the world's best workplace for researchers outside the USA. The test track is no longer than a metre, but its significance is immeasurable. Two boxes, connected by four cable strands, and beside them Stefan Krone, 27, world record holder. His development could soon be in use around the world. Krone has revolutionised the transfer speed of wireless networks: today's WLAN technology requires approximately twelve minutes to transfer an entire DVD; Krone can do it in five seconds. If the Diplom engineer were modding up cars, that would mean that in the time previously required to drive from Görlitz to Gera, Krone could take you around the world. His innovation is intended to enable data kiosks - at airports, in railway stations, at supermarkets - where customers could download entire movies onto their mobile phones in seconds. Thanks to an innovation from the Barkhausen Building in Georg-Schumann-Straße 11, Vodafone Chair. Thanks to an innovation made in Dresden. Several thousand scientists are already designing the future here: coating pistons in a new procedure that reduces friction and saves fuel; developing electrically powered race cars; researching new treatment methods for cancer and Alzheimer's disease; or installing miniature projectors into mobile phones. Readers will soon be able to download their daily paper onto the »CoolReader« from Dresden, a plastic film similar in size and flexibility to a folded newspaper.

Technical advances like this are also reflected in the current DFG funding ranking, where Dresden is meanwhile among the leading cities in many segments. 141.1 million euros have gone to Dresden in the years from 2005 to 2007; more funding went only to Berlin, Munich, Hanover, and traditional science locations such as Göttingen, Heidelberg or Karlsruhe. In the engineering sciences the TU Dresden is now ranked eighth; Wirtschaftswoche magazine named it as the fifth best university in Germany. And according to a study by DB Research, Saxony's capital city is one of the most »research intensive« locations in Europe. 20 years after the iron curtain came down, scientists in Dresden are still feeling that pioneer spirit and the desire to work together to advance science.

For example in the kitchen of House 120, 1st floor, of the Rossendorf Research Centre. When physicist Ulrich Schramm, an expert in laser particle acceleration, gets himself a coffee there, he often runs into physicians from the university clinic. Previously, Schramm had had little to do with medicine; on the OncoRay project he now works with doctors to find ways of treating cancer with laser-accelerated proton rays. Schramm says, »Elsewhere, people like me who perform basic research just work their way through one project after another. Here I can concentrate on issues relating to cancer therapy for the long-term. This opportunity only exists in Dresden.« He had previously worked in Heidelberg and Munich. Although he misses the Alps, the 43-year-old had no trouble deciding to move to the city on the Elbe - because the overall package was right: a city with a scientific tradition and affordable rents, surrounded by breathtaking landscape. And with high culture for everyone. »Two of my three children now sing in the Semperoper Chorus, and I greatly enjoy the concerts«, says Schramm. How to succeed in suddenly playing a part in the concerto of institutes of worldwide renown is illustrated by the example of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, founded in 1998.