After having been selected as an Excellency Cluster and as a ranking graduate school in the German Universities Excellence Initiative, the Technische Universität Dresden has been granted two more research projects on August 27th 2008.

In a first reaction, the Rector of the TU Dresden, Professor Hermann Kokenge, thanked all of the scientists involved: "The fact that, with such strong competitors, two of the three projects in our application were approved, underlines the strength of research at our university. The State of Saxony Excellence Initiative offers us the opportunity to distinguish ourselves in certain areas, and prepares us well for the next application round of the Excellence Initiatives at the federal level."

According to the Rector Kokenge, the integration of the research projects in the overall strategy of the university contributed to this success. A transfer center has therefore been planned, as well as a further connective element. Together, both Excellency Clusters cover the range from basic to applied research. They also promise to provide a close relation to teaching, including graduate schools and special master programs.

The current strategy of the TU Dresden is to incorporate its research competence into a network of multidisciplinary structures, and this will continue further with the two awarded research programs.

The following research projects will be funded:

• European Centre for Emerging Materials and Processes, Dresden (ECEMP): multi-component materials with an expanded range of high-tech applications in engineering, up to vehicle construction 
• A Joint Centre for Radiation Research in Oncology.

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