Dagmar Möbius / Anne Kubis / Dr. Anne Heinze

DRESDEN-concept is the research alliance of excellence uniting TU Dresden with local non-university research and cultural institutions.

DRESDEN in this sense refers to more than just the capital of Saxony. It is also an acronym for Dresden Research and Education Synergies for the Development of Excellence and Novelty. Initial deliberations about pooling the endeavors of research initiatives in Dresden began in 1990.

In 2010, TU Dresden joined forces with 14 partner institutions in research and culture around the science hub city to form the DRESDEN-concept alliance, with great success. In the federal and state excellence competitions, TU Dresden earned the title of University of Excellence in 2012 and renewed it in 2019, with DRESDEN-concept proving to be a significant factor. The research alliance uniting TU Dresden with local non-university research and cultural institutions currently comprises 36 partner establishments. These collaborate with one another and profit from the best possible synergies in research and education as well as infrastructure and administration. This is evidenced by the identification and coordination of focal areas of research and the shared use of infrastructure as well as the shared acquisition of bright minds and internationally renowned talent at the research hub that is the city of Dresden.

A true success story

Since 2019, TU Dresden has received ongoing funding as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. It is one of ten Universities of Excellence across the country and part of an excellence consortium (RWTH Aachen University, Berlin University Alliance, University of Bonn, Universität Hamburg, Heidelberg University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of Konstanz, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Technical University of Munich, University of Tübingen). This funding line comprises 148 million euros annually.

Research networking and services

DRESDEN-concept is responsible for a multitude of research activities and services, involving more than 9,500 experts and 50,000 students at TU Dresden, HTW Dresden and Dresden University of Fine Arts (HfBK). These include the DRESDEN-concept Summer Schools, the DRESDEN-concept Research Groups, four Scientific Area Committees (SACs) and the Scientific Area Networks (SANs), from “Future of Urban and Rural Areas” to “Processes of Ageing” to “Dimensions of Artificial Intelligence.” Services for researchers, students and staff of DRESDEN-concept partner institutions include the Welcome Center, the Service Center Research Data, a job portal and the Women@DDc Network.

Structure

The structure of the alliance and the various types of events it produces support the development of DRESDEN-concept into an internationally visible Science and Innovation Campus. The DRESDEN-concept Board of Directors determines methods for advancing the alliance and considers itself to be the strategy committee for the science hub of Dresden. Leading scientists at the research and cultural institutions meet regularly to discuss key topics and strategies, and to submit recommendations to the Board.

The commercial directors meet in the Administrative and Infrastructure Committee (AIC) to coordinate the collaboration of their institutions, implement the resolutions of the Board and the general assembly, and track the development of the alliance in smaller task forces.

The Scientific Area Committees (SACs) represent the research strengths of the Dresden science hub. SAC 1: Biomedicine and Bioengineering; SAC 2: Information Technology and Microelectronics; SAC 3: Materials and Structures; SAC 4: Culture and Societal Change. The SACs are the core of the scientific cross-institute cooperation and serve to identify and prioritize research topics.

Researchers from all of the DRESDEN-concept organizations can use the Scientific Area Networks (SANs) to communicate across institutions and share interdisciplinary insights into specific topics with great prospects for the local scientific community. The goal is to design joint DRESDEN-concept Summer Schools, new lecture series and seminars, and collective external funding proposals.

DRESDEN-concept seeks to raise public awareness of the research being pursued in Dresden and to transfer the findings to society. To this end, the alliance has organized large-scale science fairs at various locations in the public sphere. The new “Forschungsgespräche@” (“Research Talks@”) event series constitutes a collaboration between museums and research institutions in Dresden for communicating socially relevant scientific topics to the general public.

DRESDEN-concept services

• The DRESDEN-concept Welcome Center at TU Dresden supports international researchers in getting started here in Dresden
• The DRESDEN Technology Portal provides access to scientific instruments and services
• The DRESDEN Science Calendar features up-to-date information on all events in the realm of science in and around Dresden
• The DRESDEN Genome Center hosts the infrastructure for a broad range of state-of-the-art methods and processes of genome analysis
• The Biopolis Dresden Imaging Platform (BioDIP) – a Dresden-wide network of facilities with light and electron microscopes – offers access to cutting-edge imaging technologies

Contact:
DRESDEN-concept e. V.
TU Dresden
01062 Dresden

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