The TU Dresden has timely submitted four proposals with an overall volume of 171.8 million Euros to the Exzellenzinitiative des Bundes und der Länder zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Forschung an deutschen Hochschulen (Excellence Initiative by the German federal and state governments to promote top-level research at German universities), thus meeting the deadline of 1 September 2011. The package comprises the institutional strategy “The Synergetic University,” the renewal proposals for the Graduate School “Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering” (DIGS-BB) and the Cluster of Excellence “Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden” (CRTD) and the initial proposal for the Cluster of Excellence “Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden” (cfAED).

“The TU Dresden has submitted a package of proposals comprising ideas on the highest level, thus fully meeting the intentions of the excellence initiative; it covers the categories research, research-oriented teaching and education, power of innovation, modern structures and processes, and an organizational culture allowing and promoting top-level performance”, summarizes the Rector of the TU Dresden, Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen, on the occasion of a press conference. “I would like to express my special thanks to all individuals involved in the preparation of this proposal package, both in its content and in organizational issues. Such great feats can be only achieved by teamwork.”

Institutional Strategy: The Synergetic University

The  Institutional Strategy of the TU Dresden is an extension of the successful development in the recent years. Its package of measures aims at the further development of the university as a whole, allowing it to rise to the level of the 100 best universities worldwide until 2022. The TU Dresden follows the strategy to win excellent individuals to come to Dresden and to stay there by offering attractive conditions including excellent structures and workflows and a high-quality-of-life environment. Due to its profile as a full university, it easily supports interdisciplinary thinking and acting, both inside the university itself and in dialog with economy, culture, politics, and last but not least non-university research institutions.

The institutional strategy comprises four key measures supported by other measures:

1. New recruiting measures to strengthen the power of innovation of the complete university and tailor-made supporting programs fully exhausting the existing potential. It is intended to get the best heads on all levels of career enthusiastic about the TU Dresden – from university applicants to worldwide renowned scientists. The implementation involves measures such as:

• a special process for the call and appointment of professors
• additional promotional options for junior professors to prevent that they will change to another university
• a DRESDEN Fellowship Program for guest researchers
• implementation of the status “TUD-Young-Investigator” for selected junior researchers without professorship
• establishment of a Graduate Academy as the umbrella organization for promotional programs
• establishment of self-assessment tests and a contest “We look for the best” for future students
• extension of the Campus-Party untended to make it the most relevant student festival in Germany

2. Effective structures by bundling the 14 faculties in 5 Schools

3. Decentralization and optimization of support processes to comply with the requirements to a university involved in international competition

4. DRESDEN-concept as a unique association of the TUD with excellent non-university research and culture institutions in Dresden to maximize the synergy effects for research and education and infrastructure.

In the recent months, more than 500 members of the TU Dresden cooperated in the preparation of the Institutional Strategy . “I am glad that we can depend on such broad approval inside the university”, says Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen. “An internal representative survey has demonstrated that around 80 percent of all members of the university support the excellence proposal. We also appreciate the support by the Free State of Saxony and the state capital Dresden and many initiatives.“

The institutional strategy is not limited to specific areas of the TU Dresden but is the central element of long-term university planning. In total, the TU Dresden applies for 78.5 million Euros to implement the Institutional Strategy as part of the Excellence Initiative.

The DIGS-BB Graduate School and the CRTD and cfAED Clusters of Excellence

The positive assessment of the other TU Dresden approvals in the first and second funding line of the excellence initiative is a major requirement to achieve the excellence seal. At least one Graduate School and one Cluster of Excellence require approval to allow that the Institutional Strategy will get shortlisted. Only universities successful in all three funding lines will be awarded the title Excellence University.

Renewal proposal for the DIGS-BB Graduate School

Professor Gerhard Rödel is in charge of the renewal proposal of the TU Dresden for the DIGS-BB Graduate School. It has been established in 2006 as part of the federal and states Excellence Initiative; meanwhile, the DIGS-BB is one of the largest international doctoral programs in Germany with currently 224 junior researchers. Around 1,000 interested individual worldwide from all over the world apply every year for the 60 to 80 places in the three closely interlinked PhD programs “Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology” (CellDevo), “Regenerative Medicine” (RegMed), and “Nanobiotechnology, Biophysics and Bioengineering“ (NanoBio). Being an integrative part of the Dresden excellence fields of research cell biology, biomedicine, bioengineering, and biophysics, the DIGS-BB significantly contributes to the high standard and the exceptional dynamics of the Science Cluster Biopolis Dresden by thorough education and promotion of selected junior researchers.

The renewal proposal comprises the maintenance of the graduate school involving the exceptionally successful conception with a number modifications and optimizations with respect to structure and content. They apply to the extension of the CellDevo program system biology (CellDevoSys) and focusing of NanoBio to biophysics and bioengineering (BioEng). It is also intended to implement an institutionalized network with internationally accepted top-level labs (Partner and Alumni Labs) and the integration of the post-doc phase into the focus of promotion and care. It is also intended by the pilot project YOUNG INVESTIGATORS to create a new promotion format in the DIGS-BB for junior researchers on the group manager level allowing to combine independent scientific profile generation with a close integration into the university.

Renewal proposal for the CRTD Cluster of Excellence

Prof. Michael Brand is in charge of the renewal proposal for the Cluster of Excellence and the DFG Research Center CRTD that already has been successful in phase 1 of the excellence initiative and that currently is funded with 9.24 million Euros per year. It is the objective of the CRTD to investigate the regenerative capabilities of the human body and to develop according therapies, focusing on:  1. comparative regeneration biology for the identification of signal transduction processes and target molecules that can be influenced in mammals; 2. protection for damaged cells to support in vivo regeneration; 3. stem cells (pluripotent and adult) for the development of cell-based assays and clinical therapies; 4. biomaterials supporting in vitro and in vivo regeneration; and 5. clinical cell therapy.

Initial proposal for the cfAED Cluster of Excellence

Prof. Gerhard Fettweis is in charge of the full proposal of the TU Dresden for the cfAED Cluster of Excellence intended to investigate the further development of electronic information processing systems. This is the basis for  information and communication technology - the principal driver of innovation for almost all industries, significantly determining today’s world. The further development of the most important semiconductor (CMOS) industry increasingly reaches its limits, the cluster of excellence aims at advancing new complementary technologies. To achieve its objectives, the cluster actively combines the thirst for knowledge of the natural sciences with the orientation towards problem solving of engineering, and it will cover research from basic materials research to complex heterogeneous information processing systems. To maximize the chances of success and to promote an efficient interdisciplinary change of ideas, the cluster will follow multiple approaches along its research paths (areas of research).

In the middle of the process

In the following months, the submitted proposals will be evaluated by international expert groups of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Wissenschaftsrat (German Council of Science and Humanities). They also compete with numerous proposals of other German universities. The evaluation process also includes on-site inspections and presentations to expert groups. Prof. Müller-Steinhagen says: “Although a large step ahead is completed with the submission of the full proposals, we are still in the middle of the process. After a short break, we will prepare ourselves for the evaluation.”

The date of approval of the individual proposals is 15 June 2012.

Information for journalists:
Public relations dept. of the TU Dresden: +49 - 351 463 - 32398