Günter Stock

A journalist once described Prof. Dr. Dr. Günter Stock as “an intermediary between two worlds.” Indeed, the president of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and of the All European Academies (ALLEA) has always been adept at bringing business and science together. It is a characteristic that runs through his entire professional career, whether as a university professor or as a board member of the pharmaceutical giant Schering AG.

“The separation of business and science is outdated”

“The separation of the two worlds of business and science is highly artificial and long since outdated,” explains Prof. Stock. “Even in my time at Schering, I always maintained close contact to the scientific community, for example to the Max Planck Institutes and Helmholtz Centers.” Stock got his start in 1983 at Schering AG as head of the core department of Cardiovascular Pharmacology. Prior to that, he worked as a professor of Vegetative Physiology at the University of Heidelberg. A return to university teaching after his time at Schering was an option, but Stock chose a different path: In 2005, the BBAW members voted him president of the Academy. “Now I work to ensure that young people are given the opportunity to perform research.”

For Prof. Stock, a medical scientist, the fact that he heads up the humanities-oriented BBAW does not pose a problem: “The structures that scientists and academics need for their work are similar in all disciplines,” argues Stock, who has also acted as president of the Union of German Academies of Science and the Humanities since 2008. Included among the most crucial elements for successful R&D are sufficient financial means, a calm atmosphere and the showcasing of promising research results.

Active Participation in Different Networks

It helps that Stock, who is a trained physiologist, is well-connected both within the science and business communities. Stock also uses these connections in other functions: for example, he brings researchers and entrepreneurs together in his function as the spokesperson for the Berlin Brandenburg Health Capital Network. Back when he was a board member at Schering AG, Prof. Stock worked intensively in such networks. In the 1990s, he was active in the founding of the BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg biotech network and also participated in the design of the TSB Technology Foundation Berlin and Berlin’s Institute for Cell Biology and Neurobiology.

“Berlin will continue to be a leading healthcare metropolis”

Prof. Günter Stock is especially proud to have been a major influence on the development of the biotech scene in Berlin, and he has a very optimistic outlook on the future: “Berlin is a healthcare metropolis and will continue to be so in the future,” he argues. Prof. Stock also expects to see a re-industrialization of the region with an emphasis on knowledge-based industries. “If the current willingness to cooperate continues to grow between universities, non-university institutions and business, Berlin is going to be unbeatable in this field, not only in Germany, but in all of Europe.”

You will also find Günther Stock in the Who's Who Berlin: Capital of Science