On August 22, 2024, TUD Dresden University of Technology (TUD) submitted both the full proposals for the three new Cluster of Excellence initiatives called for in February 2024  and the follow-up proposals for continued funding of the three existing Clusters of Excellence to the German Research Foundation (DFG). TUD is thus entering this decisive phase of the competition for millions in funding from the Federal and State governments for Cluster of Excellence research with a total of six full proposals.

Cutting-edge research to develop solutions for the pressing issues of the 21^st century

”TUD is entering the decisive phase of the current round of Clusters of Excellence with great confidence. With the submission of six full proposals, four of them under our sole leadership and two together with our partners at Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg (JMU) and RWTH Aachen University, we are underlining our strength as a top research institution. With the Clusters of Excellence, we are living up to our claim of developing solutions for the most pressing issues of the 21^st century through excellent research. Together with the six teams of researchers, many administrative departments of TUD contributed to the preparation of the applications with the highest level of commitment. I would like to thank everyone involved for this outstanding team work,” said the Rector of TUD, Prof. Ursula Staudinger.

“With the three existing Clusters of Excellence, we are addressing important topics of the future such as the tactile Internet and assistive robotics, novel quantum materials and the physical foundations of life through cutting-edge research. With the initiatives invited to submit full proposals, we are supplementing and expanding our profile in the field of cutting-edge research to include research into brain functions for machine learning, resource-efficient construction and sustainable high-performance electronics. We aim to make a decisive contribution to gaining knowledge in these highly innovative fields for the benefit of future generations,” adds Prof. Angela Rösen-Wolff, Vice-Rector Research at TUD.

Until the middle of February 2025, the full proposals will undergo a highly competitive review process. The final decision on funding will be made at the end of May 2025. As part of the current round of the Excellence Strategy, a total of up to 70 Clusters of Excellence can receive funding. To this end, the Federal and State governments will provide a total of around EUR 385 million per year until 2025 and a total of around EUR 539 million per year from 2026.

New proposals from TU Dresden:

BiC: Behaviour in Context: Brain and Machine Computations of Behaviour in Complex and Uncertain Environments

Speaker of the Cluster: Prof. Stefan Kiebel

The human brain controls behaviour in complex situations reliably and highly efficiently. Despite years of research, AI systems just can’t keep up in terms of efficiency. The BiC Cluster of Excellence wants to investigate whether recently discovered brain mechanisms represent key principles and can be transferred to machine learning and to the development of therapies.

CARE: Climate-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Construction (TU Dresden along with RWTH Aachen)

Speaker of the Cluster: Prof. Victor Mechtcherine and Prof. Martin Claßen (RWTH Aachen)

Conventional concrete and cement make up 80 percent of building materials and are responsible for more than 8 percent of global CO2 emissions during production. The CARE Cluster of Excellence at TU Dresden and RWTH Aachen University aims to use climate-friendly building materials, new construction principles, manufacturing technologies and circular economy tools to show ways towards sustainable construction.

REC²: Responsible Electronics in the Climate Change Era

Speaker of the Cluster: Prof. Yana Vaynzof

Electronics bring many benefits to our lives, but at a cost of enormous resource and energy consumption and generation of e-waste. The REC² cluster is creating the scientific basis for the electronics of the future: new material platforms, device concepts and integrated systems with which responsible electronics can be realized in an ecologically, economically and societally sustainable way.

Renewal proposals from TU Dresden:

CeTI: Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop

Speaker: Prof. Frank H. P. Fitzek

CeTI advances efficient collaboration between humans and machines. One of its applications is the co-working of humans and machines with mutual learning and across distances without programming knowledge. This requires the development of innovative technologies for real-time communication as well as robust models of the human body and its ability to react.

ctd.qmat: Complexity , and dynamism in Quantum Matter; (TU Dresden along with the Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg)

Speaker: Prof. Matthias Vojta and Prof. Ralph Claessen (Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg – JMU)

ctd.qmat develops new quantum materials with customized functionalities that form the indispensable basis for technological progress. The Cluster, which is supported by TUD and the University of Würzburg, combines physics, chemistry and materials science and links two of the world's leading research locations for condensed matter. It bridges the gap between theoretical and experimental basic research with a strong focus on application.

PoL: Physics of Life. The Dynamic Organization of Living Matter (Physics of Life. The dynamic organization of living matter)

Speaker: Prof. Otger Campàs

Understanding life is one of the greatest and most complex challenges in science. The Cluster seeks to get to the bottom of the fundamental questions in cell and developmental biology and initiate a paradigm shift: We need physics to fully understand biological processes.

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