A joint initiative by the capital's non-university research institutions including the MPIWG, Berlin Research 50 (BR 50) seeks to strengthen the city as an international science metropolis. The new network, to which almost all non-university institutes and centers in the Berlin area belong, is intended to facilitate coordination between non-university research institutions and to provide a central point of contact for cooperation with Berlin universities and exchange with society and politics. Similar to the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), BR50 is also intended to provide a dialogue platform for the participating institutes.

The association represents research areas from all scientific areas: life sciences, social sciences and humanities (of which the MPIWG is part), natural sciences, and technology and engineering. Forty-one of Berlin's non-university research institutions came together, including institutes of the Max Planck Society, Leibniz Association, Helmholtz Association, and Fraunhofer Society, as well as the federal government research institutes and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.