About us

Innovation Centers organize a strategic topic-based collaboration between several public and private research and development partners.

Universities, higher education institutions, Fraunhofer Institutes and further non-university research institutions work together with companies and civil society as locally anchored ecosystems to improve economic impact and societal benefits of R&D.

Innovation Centers represent excellent, cross-organizational use of infrastructure, continuing education concepts and know-how. They bring together appropriate partners and guide ideas as innovation guides till market launch.

All IC at a glance

The aim of the Innovation Centre for Innovative Therapeutics (TheraNova) is to establish a regional scientific-industrial cluster consisting of experts from university, non-university and industrial research in the Rhine-Main area. All partners will develop a joint research and development portfolio composed of innovative therapeutics with the goal of supporting their rapid transfer into products and medical applications. Projects focus on the development of novel therapeutic entities such as proximity-inducing molecules, multispecific biotherapeutics, innovative fusion proteins and customised microbiota for the treatment of diseases with a high unmet medical need.

Headed by the Fraunhofer-Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (ITMP) in Frankfurt/Main, the Fraunhofer-Institute for Computer Graphics Research (IGD) and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University in Frankfurt/Main, the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have joined forces to form the Innovation Center TheraNova.

The Innovation Center builds on existing networks and structures of the participating research partners, such as several DFG Collaborative Research Centres and Research Training Groups, LOEWE centres, the Cluster4Future PROXIDRUGS, the ENABLE innovation network, the Fraunhofer 4D Inflammation Clinic, collaborative projects of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence for Immune-Mediated Diseases (CIMD).

The Innovation Center combines these diverse activities under one roof: The major aim of TheraNova is to support transfer into products and medical applications, together with partners from university as well as from biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and to sustainably improve patient care. The Innovation Centre will specifically support collaborative projects with a high potential for further development by providing a critical mass of resources and competencies.

Further information contributing partners

The Innovation Center is funded by the Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts and the Fraunhofer Society.