4th German Sleep Award 2026
Last Friday, March 20, 2026, the German Sleep Prize was awarded for the fourth time in Berlin by the German Sleep Foundation.
With this award, the foundation honors outstanding achievements and innovative developments in the fields of sleep research, sleep medicine, and the promotion of sleep health.
The prize is awarded every two years in the categories "Ambassador of Sleep", "Employer Sleep Health" and "Science & Innovation".
In the category “Science & Innovation”, the SOMNOLINKproject (led by Prof. Dr. Dagmar Krefting & Prof. Dr. Christoph Schöbel) received the German Sleep Prize 2026.
The focus is on obstructive sleep apnea, a widespread sleep disorder affecting around 26 million people in Germany. Brief pauses in breathing during sleep often go undetected for extended periods and can lead to serious complications such as heart attack, stroke, or depression. Long waiting times, limited early detection, and fragmented data structures currently hinder treatment. The SOMNOLINK project moves away from isolated data towards networked, data-driven sleep medicine research and care. For the first time, large volumes of medical sleep data from various locations are being interconnected. The goals are faster diagnoses, more efficient use of sleep labs, and more individualized therapies.
SOMNOLINK is a project of the Medical Informatics Initiative. Led by Prof. Christoph Schöbel and Prof. Dagmar Krefting, the project connects 55 employees at nine university locations and is considered a model for a future-oriented, digital transformation in sleep medicine.
