Funding

6
The Foundation in Brief
A Foundation of Knowledge
Established in 1961 by the Government of the Federal
Republic of Germany and the State of Lower
Saxony as an independent research funding institution,
the Volkswagen Foundation has a strong
tradition in providing support for all branches of
science and scholarship. Its slogan “A Foundation
of Knowledge” reflects both a commitment to reliability
as well as flexibility in generating impulses
for the advancement of knowledge and innovation.
Average annual funding in the amount of some
€100 million over recent years makes the Hanover
based Foundation the most potent private research
funding foundation in Germany. To date, the Volks -
wagen Foundation has allocated €3.6 billion to some
29,300 projects in Germany and all over the world.
Mission and Concept
According to the will of its founders, the purpose
of the Volkswagen Foundation is to support the
humanities and social sciences as well as science
and technology in higher education and research.
The statutes ensure its independent legal existence
and its character as a non-profit organization.
Since taking up its activities in 1962 the Foundation
has proved to be a dedicated and flexible funding
partner. Autonomous and economically self-sufficient,
it is completely free to determine and develop
its funding instruments and the topics it decides
to support. The Foundation’s funding concept is
not static. This makes it possible to shift focus, to
take the initiative, to provide sustainable impulses
corresponding to the research needs and the challenges
our societies face today.
The second call for proposals within the context of the program “European Platform for Life Sciences, Mind
Sciences, and the Humanities” attracted a total of 100 applications from young researchers in seven countries,
of whom 46 were eventually selected. In springtime 2010 they met for their first intensive round of
discussions at a workshop held at the “Evangelische Akademie” in Tutzing on Lake Starnberg in Bavaria.