We encounter artificial intelligence in almost all areas of our lives these days. Be it in everyday life, business or science – the applications for the key technology that is AI will continue to evolve rapidly, generating important impetus for societal progress and structural transformation.

Germany, a leading centre of science and industry, needs excellent young experts if it is to compete successfully on an international level in the field of AI. This is where the “Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence” funding programme comes in. It provides funding for initially three Zuse Schools to be established, thereby enabling excellent, research-based training at master’s and PhD level. Each Zuse School brings together a consortium of renowned scientists with an interest in innovative teaching – from universities and non-university research institutions – as well as representatives of R&D departments in business and industry (as fellows).

German universities and research institutions not only offer outstanding opportunities for studies and research in the field of AI, but are also involved in numerous research and development collaborations with companies. The growing number of industry-specific AI applications also provides top-class national and international AI experts with attractive employment and career opportunities.

Thanks to their combination of excellent, research-based training at master’s and PhD level, supervision by mentors from science and industry, a comprehensive range of support and networks spanning several sites, the Zuse Schools are uniquely poised to attract the world’s best AI talents and ensure that they retain lasting ties to German business and science.

The transdisciplinary, cross-locational teams provide innovative paths to academic qualification, interdisciplinary research relating to AI as well as transdisciplinary career paths in companies and universities for young AI researchers.

The programme is to make a long-term contribution

• to the professional profiling of the participating higher education institutions in research-based teaching within the AI sector;
• to meeting the demand for researchers and for expertise in the AI sector in Germany;
• to the transdisciplinary and cross-locational networking of academia and industry and the intensification of knowledge transfer in the AI sector;
• to enhancing the excellence and perspectives of higher education and research through international exchange and the international appeal of Germany as an AI science hub;
• to enhancing the standing of AI content in research, teaching, industry and society.

Konrad Zuse was known for his pioneering work as a computer scientist. He not only developed the world’s first fully functional, programmable, and fully automatic digital computer, but also designed the first high-level programming language.

Konrad Zuse was born in Berlin in 1910. He first studied mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district but then switched to architecture, and finally to civil engineering. After graduating in engineering and acquiring some initial professional experience, he began working as a freelance inventor, putting his ideas for computing machines into practice. Having spent several years working on earlier models, he presented the Z3 on 12 May 1941, the world’s first fully functional, programmable, and fully automatic digital computer. Later, in the 1950s, Zuse initiated the development of the Z22, the first electronic computer system to be industrially produced in series in Germany. Zuse received numerous awards for his pioneering achievements, including the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit. He died in Hünfeld in the state of Hesse on 18 December 1995.

Any history of Zuse’s life necessarily includes the time he spent working for the Henschel aircraft company during the Second World War. This meant he was involved in the armaments industry as a scientist and was therefore part of the Nazi system. This look back also points to the present day: A scientist’s work should always be dictated by the need to act responsibly and in line with ethical standards. The DAAD keeps track of all new publications relating to Konrad Zuse during this period.