DFG approved funding for 13 optical microscopes at German universities. The call is based, among others, on a proposal submitted by GerBI-GMB Core Facility Managers within a call for major instrumentation initiatives. DFG invited applications for highly developed but not yet widely established optical microscopy technologies as part of a major instrumentation initiative in January 2018. The call, entitled “Innovative, Experimental Optical Microscopes for Research”, attracted considerable interest from universities, with a total of 50 proposals received.