As a prestigious international research university, Freie Universität Berlin is part of the broad-based and nuanced German research and innovation landscape.

Aside from the universities, the other parties contributing to this are, in particular, the institutions operated by the four major non-university research organizations:

Independant Research Institutions

• Max Planck Society
• Fraunhofer Society
• Helmholtz Association
• Wilhelm Gottfried Leibniz Association

Especially important in terms of research at Freie Universität Berlin are the university’s cooperative initiatives with the eight regional Max Planck Institutes

• Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
• Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin
• Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin
• Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin
• Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin
• Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam
• Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam
• Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, Golm

and with the major Helmholtz affiliates located in the region:

• the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (Center for Materials and Energy),
• the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Center for Materials and Coastal Research,
• the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, and
• the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) in Potsdam;

and with the institutions located within the region and affiliated with the Leibniz Association:

• the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB),
• the Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology), and
• the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy.

Supplemented by department research institutions operated by the German federal government, such as the German Archeological Institute (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut) or the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), as well as research institutions with other sources of support, such as the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), the Institute for Advanced Study Berlin (Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin), the Zuse Institute Berlin (Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin), and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the academic region in and around Berlin and Brandenburg offers a unique spectrum of research institutions not affiliated with specific universities, and with it a wide range of possible opportunities for cooperative arrangements for the scholars and scientists of Freie Universität Berlin.

These kinds of cooperation can take many forms: joint exploration of research topics in large alliances, collaboration in educating and supporting doctoral candidates in specific settings such as Berlin Mathematical School and the Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies as well as the graduate formats offered by institutions not affiliated with the university, joint teaching activities and support services, joint research groups and appointments, special and adjunct professorships at Freie Universität for members of non-university-affiliated institutions.