Science and research in Germany are characterized by an excellent infrastructure and well-equipped research facilities with highly qualified staff. Germany offers a host of research locations, from universities, including universities of applied sciences, to non-university institutes, companies and federal as well as Länder institutions. Around 750 public-funded research institutions exist alongside research and development centres run by businesses.

- Germany is home to over 350 universities. The education they provide is shaped by the symbiosis of teaching and research. The Federal Government and the Länder have set up the Initiative for Excellence to support top-level research and to make Germany more competitive as a research Location.

- The German Research Foundation (DFG) is the central self-governing organization of science in Germany. It serves science in all its branches by funding research projects at universities and other research institutions.

- The Fraunhofer Society conducts applied research for private as well as public enterprises and for the general benefit of the public. It has more than 80 centres overall and is the largest organization for applied research in Europe.

- The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres integrates 17 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centres and is the largest scientific organisation in Germany.

- The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community, known as the Leibniz Association, is the umbrella organisation for 86 research institutions which address scientific issues of importance to society as a whole.

- The Max Planck Society is an independent, non-profit research organisation named after the world-famous physicist Max Planck (1858-1947). Primarily, it performs basic research in the sciences as well as the humanities, thus complementing research projects at universities.