The Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim has been given an institutional framework: The research alliance – launched by seven leading research institutions with the aim of building the Rhine-Neckar region into an internationally leading biomedical-technological cluster focusing on the life sciences, the health economy and medical technology – will operate as a non-profit limited liability company (gGmbh) in future. The company was founded and notarised at the end of last year in order to put the alliance on a legal footing and to simplify and accelerate inter-institutional cooperation. The founding members are Heidelberg University, a University of Excellence, with its two Medical Faculties, the German Cancer Research Center, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, the Central Institute of Mental Health and the two University Hospitals in Heidelberg and Mannheim.

“The research alliance is a pacemaker and catalyst for innovation – a unique research and development network that will continue to gain visibility, also internationally,” says Prof. Dr Wolfgang Wick, one of two Scientific Directors of the Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim. His colleague and co-director Prof. Dr Michael Boutros explains: “The Health + Life Science Alliance’s success features include, in particular, its cross-institutional approach and its high appeal for top academic talent as well as for top researchers. Its integration into the economic region also plays a central role.” With the establishment of the non-profit limited liability company, decision-making mechanisms and working structures were institutionalised.

The drivers of the alliance are the seven university and non-university institutions that form the core of the Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim. They are united in the goal of jointly expanding common priorities in health research, bolstering life science research, and intensifying transfer into industry and society. The aim is thereby to create a new leading industry with great traction and high potential for sustainable value creation, together with strong partners from business and the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region.

The state of Baden-Württemberg is supporting the research alliance as part of its Innovation Campus strategy, initially until 2027. 24 collaboration projects in the fields of oncology, cardiovascular diseases, immunology, infectiology, epidemiology, molecular biology, artificial intelligence, neurology and mental health were already launched last year. Dr Andrea Leibfried, Administrative Director of the non-profit GmbH, explains: “By setting up joint technology platforms, we want to make high-end methods in preclinical and clinical research available across institutions to enable new collaborations and an increase in knowledge.” The joint approach, she says, will make it possible to use resources efficiently, create excellent conditions for top recruits, accelerate the transfer of research findings into application and industry, and raise patient care to a new level.