Max Planck Society
“Insight must precede application.” (Max Planck)
The Max Planck Society conducts basic research in the natural sciences, life sciences, and humanities. Since its foundation in 1948, eighteen Nobel laureates have emerged from its ranks, including Germany’s only (natural science) female Nobel Prize winner to date. More than 15,000 publications in scientific journals every year – many of them in renowned journals such as Science and Nature – also testify to the outstanding work at the Max Planck Institutes. In important rankings, such as the Nature Index or the Index of Highly Cited Researchers, Max Planck has been among the top 5 worldwide for years. The Max Planck Society with its 86 Max Planck Institutes and facilities and about 24,000 employess is the international flagship for German science. In addition to five foreign institutions, it operates more than 20 Max Planck Centers with research institutions such as the Princeton University in the USA, the Paris University Science Po in France, the University College London in UK, and the University of Tokyo in Japan. Over 16,000 early career researchers and visiting scientists conduct research at Max Planck Institutes every year. Equally funded by federal and state governments, the Max Planck Society had an annual budget of 1.9 billion euros in 2019.
Project ‘Max Planck Law-Tech-Society’
Over the last decade, research on “law and technology” has exploded, cutting across all legal disciplines. Indeed, an increasing number of Max Planck Law scholars are contributing to this field, examining the legal, regulatory, policy, and social implications of emerging technologies and exploring the opportunities technologies offer as a methodological tool for legal research and practice. In parallel, Max Planck Institutes in the MPG’s Chemistry, Physics & Technology Section are leading the development of new technologies that will continue to shape our societies.
Given the rapid pace of today’s global technological development and its wide-ranging societal impact, collaboration and interdisciplinary exchange of thought is a prerequisite to grasp the complexity and multiple dimensions of the field and for producing cutting edge research. It is also essential to enable research that actively and effectively shapes public discourse on legal, ethical, and social implications of various emerging technologies and their regulation.
The Max Planck Law-Tech-Society Initiative serves as a hub for the exchange of ideas on common themes, concerns, and challenges raised by the complex and interdependent relationships between law, technology, and society. The initiative helps to increase the visibility of technology-related research at Max Planck Institutes, cement their leadership in the field, and attract new international talent.
