Basic research
Around 85 institutes working on fundamental questions in the natural sciences, life sciences and humanities.
03.09 Science & Technology
Science and research funding
Germany spends more than €137 billion a year on research and development. Only part of that is public money, and only part of the public money passes through the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. This page follows the figures: what Dorothee Bär's ministry has to spend, where it goes, and why the numbers are contested.
€22.4bn
BMFTR budget in 2025
Source: Deutscher Bundestag€21.82bn
Core budget adopted for 2026, €0.58bn less than in 2025
Source: Deutscher Bundestag€1.64bn
Additional 2026 money from two special funds (€923m + €718m)
Source: Forschung & Lehre≈€18bn
High-Tech Agenda funding to 2029, incl. €5.5bn from special funds
Source: Deutscher Bundestag01 — The budget
From draft to adopted budget
The BMFTR was created in May 2025 by splitting the former education and research ministry. Comparisons with earlier years are therefore approximate, but the 2025 and 2026 figures below both refer to the new ministry's budget section.
The government's draft for 2026 put the ministry's core budget at €21.3 billion. Parliament raised it in its deliberations, and the Bundestag adopted €21.82 billion in the second reading on 28 November 2025. That was still €0.58 billion below 2025.
The core budget is not the whole story. In 2026 the ministry also draws €923 million from the special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality and €718 million from the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF), bringing its total to almost €23.5 billion. Of the overall sum, almost €2.4 billion is earmarked for space.
„Eine noch klarere Handschrift als die Hightech-Agenda kann es nicht geben“
“There could be no clearer signature than the High-Tech Agenda.”
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 budget | €22.4bn | First year of the reorganised ministry |
| 2026 government draft | €21.3bn | Cabinet draft, first reading 26 September 2025 |
| 2026 adopted core budget | €21.82bn | Second reading 28 November 2025; −€0.58bn against 2025 |
| Special fund Infrastructure & Climate Neutrality | €923m | Additional 2026 resources |
| Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF) | €718m | Additional 2026 resources |
| 2026 total | ≈€23.5bn | Core budget plus special funds |
| of which space | ≈€2.4bn | National programme and ESA contributions |
02 — Multi-year commitments
Programmes that run beyond one budget
Much of the money is tied up in commitments that stretch across several years. The largest new ones under Bär are the High-Tech Agenda and its technology plans.
| Programme | Volume | Period | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-Tech Agenda Germany | ≈€18bn | to 2029 | Adopted by cabinet 30 July 2025; incl. €5.5bn from special funds |
| Fusion Action Plan | >€2bn | to 2029 | Adopted 1 October 2025; incl. up to €755m for laser-fusion infrastructure |
| ESA subscription | €5.4bn | Multi-year ESA programmes | Ministerial Council, November 2025; about 23% of total |
| Excellence Strategy, Clusters | €539m / yr | 7 years from 1 Jan 2026 | Joint federal–state programme |
| 1000 Köpfe Plus | €602m | 2025–2029 | Federal talent programme |
03 — Who receives the money
The institutions of German research
Germany's research system is unusually plural. Universities are funded mainly by the Länder; four large non-university research organisations and the DFG are financed jointly by the federal government and the states.
Applied research
Around 76 institutes doing contract research with and for industry; the bridge between laboratory and product.
Large-scale research
18 centres operating major infrastructures, from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to particle accelerators and climate research.
Thematic breadth
96 institutions ranging from economics and the social sciences to life sciences and research museums.
The research foundation
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a self-governing body of science, funds research projects mainly at universities through competitive peer review and administers the Excellence Strategy's scientific procedure.
The backbone
Over 400 higher-education institutions, funded primarily by the Länder; the federal government supports them through joint programmes such as the Excellence Strategy.
The Pact for Research and Innovation
The Pakt für Forschung und Innovation is an agreement between the federal government and the Länder that gives the DFG and the four large research organisations planning security through regular budget increases, in return for agreed goals such as transfer, international cooperation and career development. Its current phase runs to 2030 and foresees annual increases of 3 per cent. It predates Bär's ministry, but its rising obligations are part of why the room for new programmes in a shrinking core budget is limited.
04 — Mechanics
How federal research money is spent
A ministry budget is not a single pot. Federal research money reaches scientists through a few distinct channels, each with its own logic and its own constraints.
01Institutional funding
The research organisations receive basic funding that covers staff, buildings and infrastructure, shared between the federal government and the Länder under agreed keys. This money gives institutes long-term stability and freedom to set their own research agendas. It is also largely committed in advance, which leaves a minister little room to redirect it quickly.
02Project funding
Through calls for proposals the ministry funds time-limited projects on themes it chooses, from quantum computing to women's health. Project funding is the main instrument for setting political priorities such as the High-Tech Agenda. It is typically administered by specialised project management agencies (Projektträger), which run the calls, organise expert review and monitor the projects.
03Joint federal–state programmes
Since a constitutional amendment in 2014, Article 91b of the Basic Law allows the federal government and the Länder to fund universities jointly over the long term. The Excellence Strategy and the Pact for Research and Innovation rest on this basis. Decisions are taken together in the Joint Science Conference (GWK), not by the federal ministry alone.
04International contributions
A large and growing share of the budget flows to international organisations, above all the European Space Agency, and to international research infrastructures. These commitments are made for several years at a time, which again limits short-term flexibility.
05Special funds
The special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality and the Climate and Transformation Fund sit outside the regular budget section. Their money is earmarked for specific purposes such as research infrastructure and climate-related technology. Critics of special funds argue that they blur the picture of how much a government actually invests; supporters see them as a way to finance long-term investment despite tight budget rules.
05 — Universities
The Excellence Strategy
The Excellence Strategy is the main federal–state programme for top-level university research. It funds Clusters of Excellence, large research networks around a theme, and, in a second line, Universities of Excellence.
On 22 May 2025 the selection committee chose 70 Clusters of Excellence from 98 proposals: 45 renewals and 25 new clusters at 43 universities in 13 states. They receive a total of €539 million a year for seven years from 1 January 2026. The federal government bears three quarters of the costs and the host state one quarter.
Verified fact The decision was taken in a joint federal–state process that was already under way; it fell just as Bär took office on 6 May 2025, and it is not her initiative. Her ministry is responsible for the federal share.
70
Clusters of Excellence selected
Source: DFG98
Proposals submitted
Source: DFG43
Universities in 13 states
Source: DFG€539m
Per year, for seven years from 2026
Source: DFG06 — Talent
1000 Köpfe Plus
The "1000 Köpfe Plus" programme, also known as Global Minds, was, according to reports, launched in July 2025 to recruit researchers from abroad to German institutions. The federal government is providing €602 million for 2025 to 2029.
€602m
Federal funding, 2025–2029
Source: DAAD286
Approvals in the first year
Source: DAAD, April 202645
Countries of origin of the researchers
Source: DAAD37%
From Europe; 30% from Asia, 20% from North America
Source: DAAD„Das 1.000-Köpfe-Plus-Programm wirkt. Schon nach einem Jahr haben wir 286 Bewilligungen erreicht“
“The 1,000 Heads Plus programme is working. After just one year we have reached 286 approvals.”
Analysis 286 approvals after one year is some way from the thousand in the programme's name, though the period runs to 2029. Approvals are also not the same as researchers who have arrived and stayed; the real test is retention over several years.
07 — The national picture
R&D spending and the 3.5 per cent target
Germany's total spending on research and development, by companies, universities, research institutes and government together, reached a record €137.1 billion in 2024, or 3.17 per cent of gross domestic product. Businesses account for roughly two thirds of that total; federal programmes are a smaller, though strategically important, share.
0%3.17% (2024)3.5% target4%
The earlier goal of 3.5 per cent by 2025 was missed. The federal government's Research and Innovation Report (BuFI) of 2026 moved the target to 2030. For Bär, this is both an argument and a constraint: the target justifies federal investment, but most of the gap must be closed by private companies, whose research spending depends on the wider economy.
08 — The debate
Criticism of the 2026 budget
The 2026 budget drew criticism on several fronts. The plainest is the arithmetic: the core budget fell by €0.58 billion against 2025, at the same time as the government presented research as a priority. The ministry points to the special funds, which lift the total above the 2025 level.
Criticism In the budget debate, the Green MPs Ayse Asar and Lübcke voiced concern that established scientific procedures could be bypassed and that money could be concentrated in Bavaria. Asar later argued, a year into Bär's term, that the government spoke of roadmaps and dialogue formats but could not show the actual effect of the funds used.
Criticism Sonja Lemke of Die Linke criticised spending blocks on construction and on transfer programmes, arguing that they would delay projects that had already been planned.
Political position The ministry's response, as reported in May 2026, was that its projects were progressing in planning and implementation. Bär has consistently presented the High-Tech Agenda as the ministry's defining programme.
Analysis Both sides have a point. Special funds are real money, but they are tied to particular purposes and time-limited, and they make year-on-year comparisons harder. The broader debate is collected on the criticism and controversies page; the ministry's strategic choices are discussed under research policy and innovation.