Despite what the name may suggest, the Volkswagen Foundation is not attached to the VW Group but is an independent non-profit foundation under civil law with headquarters in Hannover, set up by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal State of Lower Saxony. With an annual funding volume of around 100 million Euro it is Germany’s largest academic and scientific foundation and one of the country’s largest foundations in any field. Funding is generated from the foundation capital, currently standing at just over 2.4 billion Euro, making it autonomous and independent in its decisions – a strong basis to stimulate knowledge!

The Volkswagen Foundation gives impetus to scientific advances through a constant stream of new offers directed, on the one hand, towards new research areas, subjects and methodologies, and on the other to improving the infrastructures for research, teaching and international collaboration. The foundation devotes particular attention to encouraging young scientists and academics, and to trans-disciplinary and cross-border collaborative research ventures, thus helping to establish innovative fields of knowledge and make scientific and academic institutions fit for the future.