German Minister for Research, Technology and Aerospace Dorothee Baer (3rd L) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (4th R) address a press conference with Irene Bertschek (4th L), Chair of Germany's Commission of Experts on Research and Innovation (EFI), and commission members Guido Buenstorf (L), Joachim Henkel (2nd L), Friederike Welter (R), Christoph M Schmidt (2nd R) and Carolin Haeussler to present their annual report on February 11, 2026 at the Chancellery in Berlin. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP via Getty Images)

German Minister for Research, Technology and Aerospace Dorothee Baer (3rd L) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (4th R) pose with Irene Bertschek (4th L), Chair of Germany's Commission of Experts on Research and Innovation (EFI), and commission members Guido Buenstorf (L), Joachim Henkel (2nd L), Friederike Welter (R), Christoph M Schmidt (2nd R) and Carolin Haeussler after they handed over their annual report to the German government on February 11, 2026 at the Chancellery in Berlin. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP via Getty Images)

German Minister for Research, Technology and Aerospace Dorothee Baer (L) looks on as Irene Bertschek (2nd L), Chair of Germany's Commission of Experts on Research and Innovation (EFI), hands over the commission's annual report to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (2nd R) on February 11, 2026 at the Chancellery in Berlin; at (R) is commission member Carolin Haeussler. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP via Getty Images)

A tyre is marked with the tyre marking machine at the headquarters of 4JET, a German firm that makes industrial laser processing technology, in Alsdorf, western Germany, on February 10, 2026. Insatiable demand in China for German exports, from cars to factory equipment, helped underpin a long boom in the eurozone's biggest economy. But times have changed: Chinese companies have become adept at making products long the specialities of manufacturers in Germany, adding to the headwinds that have left the country trapped in a seemingly endless decline. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP via Getty Images)

Employees work at a laser patterning machine for window glass at the headquarters of 4JET, a German firm that makes industrial laser processing technology, in Alsdorf, western Germany, on February 10, 2026. Insatiable demand in China for German exports, from cars to factory equipment, helped underpin a long boom in the eurozone's biggest economy. But times have changed: Chinese companies have become adept at making products long the specialities of manufacturers in Germany, adding to the headwinds that have left the country trapped in a seemingly endless decline. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP via Getty Images)

This illustration photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on February 11, 2025, shows the logo of OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP via Getty Images)

This illustration photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on February 11, 2025, shows the logo of OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP via Getty Images)

This illustration photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on February 11, 2025, shows the logo of OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP via Getty Images)