Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation

Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation

Dietmar Hopp, co-founder of SAP, and Heinz Kinigadner, a former motocross champion who lost his son to a spinal cord injury, launched Wings for Life in 2004. The foundation operates out of Salzburg, Austria, as a grant-making body with a single mission: funding research to cure spinal cord injury. Wings for Life deploys capital through research grants to academic labs and biotech companies. It has funded over 270 research projects across 17 countries, including clinical trials at the University of California, San Francisco and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. The foundation favors translational research that bridges lab discoveries to human therapies, and has supported approaches ranging from neurostimulation to stem-cell repair and nerve regeneration. As of 2024, Wings for Life has allocated more than €200M toward its mission, according to its own reporting. The foundation operates the annual Wings for Life World Run, a global fundraising event that generates both awareness and donor capital. No team size or additional offices are publicly listed. The foundation's structural differentiator is its singular focus: it funds only spinal cord injury research, a narrow mandate that allows concentrated expertise and streamlined grant-making. Hopp and Kinigadner remain actively involved as board members, ensuring the organization stays aligned with its founding vision.