Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence

An initiative for German higher education institutions, research institutions and companies.

– The funding programme ‘Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence’ provides excellent, research-based training for outstanding German and non-German students at master’s degree and doctorate level in order to strengthen the standing of German AI research and application in the context of international competition.

News

In the second selection round, the three final Zuse Schools have now been selected by a committee appointed by the DAAD. From the original 18 expressions of interest received, six full proposals competed for the funding.

We congratulate the selected universities!

Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELIZA)

Lead university: Technical University of Darmstadt
Cooperation partners: University of Tübingen; Saarland University; Heidelberg University; University of Freiburg; Technical University of Munich; Technische Universität Berlin; Freie Universität Berlin; Max Planck Institute for Software Systems; Max Planck Institute for Informatics; Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems; Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute; European Molecular Biology Laboratory; German Cancer Research Center
The ELIZA School will make scientific excellence in machine learning and intelligent systems, the driving force behind the transformation of AI and its subdisciplines. ELIZA builds upon ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems), a highly visible European grassroots initiative, connecting seven German ELLIS units (Berlin, Darmstadt, Freiburg, Heidelberg, München, Saarbrücken, Tübingen) together with their academic institutions. Where ELLIS lacks sustained network funding and national backing to realize its benefits and to attract and support outstanding master and PhD students at the participating units, ELIZA comes in to create a visible and attractive destination for international AI talents.

Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Embedded Composite Artificial Intelligence (SECAI)

Lead university: Technische Universität Dresden
Cooperation partners: Leipzig University; Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden; Center for Tactile Internet with Human-In-The-Loop; Else Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital Health; Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences; Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence; Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing
The school’s technical focus lies in the combination of algorithms and electronics (embedded AI) and the integration of complementary AI methods (composite AI), with a special focus on life sciences and medicine. Dresden, as the center of the European semiconductor industry, incorporates the know-how and the capacity to develop and manufacture industrial products (homemade microelectronics), where highly specialized hardware and software are synergistically combined in the diversity of AI methods and applications, which are being researched at the highest international level.

Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Reliable AI (relAI)

Lead university: Technische Universität München
Cooperation partners: LMU Munich; Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security; Fraunhofer Institute for Cognitive Systems IKS; Helmholtz Zentrum München
The school focuses on the reliability of AI technology, which is still considered a serious issue of concern and partly underrepresented in research. Indeed, aspects such as safety, security, and privacy-preservation are essential prerequisites for the use of AI in domains of public interest, as these support its adoption both by industry and society at large. The Technical University Munich will educate top international candidates in the end-to-end development of reliable AI systems, both for industry and academia, and train them in cutting-edge research to make AI ready for deployment in critical application domains.

What’s next?

As the schools will be launched in July 2022, the first cohort of students will already start their studies in the upcoming winter semester 2022/23. To gain the best AI talents worldwide, the DAAD is planning to set up a promotion campaign in close collaboration with the three schools and the DAAD network around the world. Furthermore, the DAAD will hold a kick-off event in early autumn to establish an advisory board to support the schools in their development. Furthermore, it is also important to evaluate the programme and its progress. Alongside the project-specific monitoring, an accompanying study will evaluate the success of the Konrad Zuse Programme and identify opportunities for improvement already in the ongoing process.

On a side note…

For further information regarding the selection process see our DAAD from 18.05.2022.

You will soon find three exciting portraits of the three Konrad Zuse Schools here!

Context of the programme

Nowadays we encounter Artificial Intelligence in almost all areas of life: whether in daily routine, industry or academia – the fields of application of AI as a key technology will develop rapidly and provide decisive stimuli for progress and structural change in society.
In order to strengthen the standing of German AI research and application in the context of international competition, the Federal Government’s focuses on international cooperation with the aim of training the personnel required for AI development and application in Germany.
German higher education and research institutions not only offer excellent study and research opportunities in the field of AI, they also engage in numerous research and development collaborations with industry and business. The growing number of industry-specific AI application areas also offers attractive employment and career opportunities for top national and international AI specialists.

This is where the funding programme ‘Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence’ comes in: the programme will promote the establishment of probably three ‘Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence’ providing excellent, research-based training at master’s degree and at doctorate level. German higher education institutions (universities and universities of applied sciences) will be responsible for the Schools. Each School will form the umbrella for an association of academically proven researchers who are interested in innovative teaching and are drawn from several higher education institutions and non-university research institutions, as well as representatives of commercial research and development departments (fellows).

Programme objectives

The Schools’ unique features will be their combination of excellent, research-based education at master’s degree and doctorate level, supervision provided by mentors from both academia and industry as well as cross-locational networking. To this end, the very best German and international AI talent is to be attracted and retained in Germany as an AI hub.
The transdisciplinary, cross-locational teams provide innovative paths to academic qualification, interdisciplinary research relating to AI as well as transdisciplinary career paths in industry and academia 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.

Call for applications

The application and selection of projects will take place in two stages. The first stage involves the submission of a project outline which includes qualification and research concepts for a School on AI subjects as well as a supervision concept. Eligible applicants are officially recognised German higher education state institutions. The application deadline is 22 October 2021. Between five and seven concepts will be selected based on the project outlines submitted. At stage two, the selected applicants will then be invited to submit an application for funding for a concretely developed AI School project before the deadline of 15 March 2022.

‘Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence’

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Section P13 – Research and Internationalisation, University Networks

Birgit Siebe-Herbig
Head of Section
E-mail:
Phone: +49 228 882-168

Julia Kracht Araújo
Team Lead AI-Schools
E-Mail:
Tel.: +49 228 882-8790

Context of the programme

Programme objectives

Call for applications

Contact

Additional Information

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