German Museum of Technology

What German Museum of Technology does

The Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin (German Museum of Technology) is a state-owned public-law foundation (Landesunmittelbare rechtsfähige Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts) operating Germany's leading technology museum, founded in 1982 in West Berlin and opened to the public in 1983. The institution comprises the main museum building at Trebbiner Straße 9 in Berlin-Kreuzberg, the adjacent Science Center Spectrum, a museum park with outdoor exhibits, a 500,000+ volume research library, and a 7.5+ kilometer historical archive. Its collection spans approximately 150,000 objects across 19 permanent exhibitions covering railways, aviation, shipping, telecommunications, computing, printing, photography, chemistry, textiles, and more, with the Science Center Spectrum providing roughly 150 hands-on experiments across physics and perception themes.

The museum serves a diversified audience: families with children (free admission for under-18s), K–12 school classes (via the Milestones School Lab, Junior Campus, Kids Digilab, and Museumsdienst Berlin registration), adult culture and technology enthusiasts, and a smaller research/academic segment using the library and archive. Revenue is generated through a hybrid model combining public funding from the State of Berlin, ticket sales (day tickets and annual passes), museum shop sales, venue rental for events, bookable educational programs and workshops, and publications (the triannual 'Mensch! Technik' magazine and a scientific Schriftenreihe). The institution is supported by two membership associations (Freunde und Förderer des Deutschen Technikmuseums Berlin e.V. and Fördererkreis Zucker-Museum e.V.) and operates an active digital presence via website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, podcast, and digital magazine. Distribution is handled primarily through direct walk-in visits, the go~mus online ticketing platform (Giant Monkey GmbH), and group/school booking systems; governance rests with a board of trustees under Director Joachim Breuninger.

Name

German Museum of Technology

Legal name

Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin

Website

https://technikmuseum.berlin

Company type

Private

Founded year

1982

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

The Stiftung Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin is a state-owned public-law foundation operating Germany's flagship technology museum in Berlin-Kreuzberg, with 19 permanent exhibitions, a 150-experiment Science Center, a 500,000-volume library, and a 7.5 km archive, serving families, school groups, adult visitors, and researchers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Technology and Science Museum

NAICS

Museums (712110), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (712), Libraries and Archives (51921)

akta.pro primary industry

Science & Technology Museums (THAJADAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG), Museum, Zoo & Attraction Gift Shops (CRALAJAG), History, Heritage & Museum-Focused Study Tours (THAKAGAN)

Keywords

• Technology museum exhibits
• Science education programs
• Interactive science center
• Historical archive services
• Public cultural institution

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue from individual and group admission tickets. Children and youth under 18 receive free admission. The museum sells day tickets and annual passes (Jahreskarte).
2. Museum Shop: On-site retail sales of museum merchandise, publications, and related items.
3. Venue Rental: The museum rents out spaces and facilities for events, corporate functions, and private gatherings.
4. Bookable Programs and Workshops: Revenue from booked educational programs, guided tours, workshops, and school lab sessions at the museum and Science Center Spectrum.
5. Publications and Magazines: Sale of the museum's magazine 'Mensch! Technik' (published three times a year) and the scientific series 'New Contributions to Industrial Heritage and the History of Technology'. Available in the museum shop and online.
6. Public Funding: As a state-owned foundation (Landesunmittelbare rechtsfähige Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts), the museum receives public funding from the State of Berlin.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The German Museum of Technology operates a public technology museum in Berlin comprising 19 permanent exhibitions, three special exhibitions, and the adjacent Science Center Spectrum with approximately 150 hands-on experiments. It sells admission tickets and annual passes, runs bookable educational programs and workshops for schools and the public, rents out event spaces, operates an on-site museum shop, and maintains a specialized research library (500,000+ volumes), a 7.5-kilometer historical archive, and a triannual publication series.

Product overview

The German Museum of Technology (Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin) operates as a unified museum institution comprising the main museum with permanent and special exhibitions covering all aspects of technology history, the Science Center Spectrum with hands-on interactive experiments, educational programs for children and schools (Kids Digilab, Junior Campus, Milestones School Lab), a podcast series, digital magazine, specialized library with over 500,000 volumes, a historical archive spanning 7.5 kilometers, and publication programs. The institution offers both physical visitor experiences and digital content through its online collection, digital magazine, and podcast.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Science Center Spectrum: Interactive science center with hands-on experiments covering topics such as electricity, magnetism, mechanics, optics, and more.
• Kids Digilab
• Junior Campus
• Förderverein

Products and services

• Deutsches Technikmuseum (Main Museum Exhibitions)
• Science Center Spectrum
• Specialized Research Library (Bibliothek)
• Historical Archive (Historisches Archiv)
• Schriftenreihe Publication Series
• Online Collection Database
• Venue Rental (Vermietung)
• Educational Programs and Workshops (Kids Digilab, Junior Campus, Schülerlabor Meilensteine)
• Museum Shop (Museumsshop)

Quantifiable outcome

• 150,000 objects in collection with approximately 4,000 on display
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Giant Monkey GmbHcoreTechnology or IntegrationGiant Monkey GmbH (Brunnenstraße 39, 10115 Berlin) provides the go~mus online ticketing software used by the museum. The partnership enables online ticket sales for day visits, annual passes, and group bookings. The software implements data protection 'by design' and limits data collection to what is necessary.
• Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer KulturbesitzcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating on the 'Making the Visible Visible – Berlin's Typographical Cultural Heritage in Open Access' project as part of the digiS 'Digitization 2021' funding program. The project aims to digitize and index typefaces, type specimen books, and press proofs from the H. Berthold AG type foundry and associated companies (1860–1950), with 400 works selected from the three institutions' holdings.
• Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu BerlincoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-partner in the Berlin's Typographical Cultural Heritage digitization project alongside the Staatsbibliothek and Erik Spiekermann Foundation. Contributing 400 works (of 400 total across all three institutions) to the Open Access digitization initiative.
• Erik Spiekermann Foundation gGmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating partner in the Berlin's Typographical Cultural Heritage project. The foundation contributes 120 fonts from its collection and is digitizing wood, plastic, and metal type specimens. It is digitizing the five most successful font families from H. Berthold AG: Akzidenz-Grotesk, Berliner Grotesk, Block, Lo-Type, and Fanfare.
• Museumsdienst BerlincoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThe Museumsdienst Berlin handles group registration and bookings for school visits to the Science Center Spectrum on weekday mornings (Tuesday through Friday, 9am-1pm). This is a mandatory registration channel for organized school groups.
• Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the CityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCultural activist project collaborating with the museum on the 'Leerstelle' (empty space) within the Shipping exhibition. The collaboration supports the museum's decolonization process through monthly workshops led by experts of color, participatory co-curation efforts, and involvement in the 2022 Dekoloniale Festival.
• studiodreicoreTechnology or IntegrationProduction company for the museum's children's podcast 'Fakt oder Future? Ab in die Stadt der Zukunft!' The podcast is hosted by Jana Forkel and features co-hosts discussing technology, environment, and urban planning topics for a child audience.
• Freunde und Förderer des Deutschen Technikmuseums Berlin e.V.coreOthersA nonprofit charitable association (Förderverein) that supports the museum's activities. Members receive free annual admission to all museum institutions, a free subscription to the museum's triannual magazine, and can participate in committees and task forces. Contact: Tel 030 26 22 031, [email protected], www.fdtm.de
• Fördererkreis Zucker-Museum e.V.minorOthersA supporting association dedicated to the museum's 'Alles Zucker' (Sugar) exhibition. Members support the museum and receive benefits similar to those of the main supporting association. Contact: Tel 030 80 35 678, [email protected]
• German Lost Art Foundation (Deutsches Zentrum Kulturgutverluste)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe foundation has funded multiple provenance research projects at the museum, including a pilot project (2019-2020) and a major project (2020-2025) investigating objects acquired between 1982 and 1989. It also funded the return of a looted book from Pontlevoy, France, in 2021.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Science Museum (London): London's flagship science and technology museum, part of the Science Museum Group. Comparable as a major general technology-and-engineering museum with permanent galleries, interactive exhibits, a large research library/archive, and a similarly diversified revenue model (admissions, retail, venue hire, public funding).
• Deutsches Museum: The world's first and one of the largest science and technology museums, located in Munich. Directly comparable to the Deutsches Technikmuseum in mission (technology history), scope (~50+ exhibition areas), institutional scale, and public-foundation-style governance as a flagship German technology museum.
• Technisches Museum Wien: Vienna's major technology museum, with permanent exhibitions on energy, mobility, and industrial heritage. Comparable in scale, mission, and DACH-region positioning as a state-supported technology museum with school programs and event rental.
• Musée des Arts et Métiers: Paris's national museum of technological and industrial heritage, operated under a public institution framework. Directly comparable in subject focus (industrial and technological cultural heritage), research library/collection depth, and state-supported operating model.
• Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago): One of the largest science museums in the world, housed in a former industrial building in Chicago. Comparable as a major technology-and-industry museum with a large interactive exhibit footprint, school-group programming, and venue-rental stream.
• Tekniska Museet: Sweden's national museum of technology in Stockholm. Comparable as a state-supported Northern European technology museum with permanent exhibitions, school programs, and a similar mix of admissions, shop, and venue rental revenue.
• Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum: Germany's largest computer museum, located in Paderborn. Comparable as a German technology museum (narrower in scope — focused on information technology and computing) with a similar public-institutional operating model and a large interactive exhibit program.

Regional players

• Museum für Naturkunde Berlin: Berlin's natural history museum, a Leibniz Association research museum with ~30 million objects. Comparable as a Berlin-based public research museum with major collection holdings, school and family programming, and venue rental.
• Deutsches Historisches Museum: Berlin's national history museum, located in the city's museum district. Comparable as a Berlin-based federal/state public-law museum with similar governance (federal-state foundation), scale of collections, and a shared audience pool of Berlin tourists and school groups.

Broad incumbents

• Smithsonian National Museum of American History: The Smithsonian's flagship technology-and-history museum in Washington, D.C. Comparable as a large publicly funded technology-and-culture museum with a major research library/archive and a national tourism draw, but on a materially larger scale and broader mandate than the Deutsches Technikmuseum.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCp6HbGJW4PuVlje_b1xLcmQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/deutschestechnikmuseum
• Instagraminstagram.com/deutschestechnikmuseum
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stiftung-deutsches-technikmuseum-berlin

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about German Museum of Technology