TU9 universities provide excellence in research. They were successful in both rounds of the German government’s Excellence Initiative, TU München, Universität Karlsruhe (TH) (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and RWTH Aachen even being awarded the status of “excellence universities”. A large number of DFG collaborative research centres and projects at the TU9 universities bear witness to our high quality.

TU9 universities are leading in research. The amount of third-party funding they acquire provides the clearest evidence of this.

Numerous cooperation’s in research between TU9 universities and industry induce a close interaction between science and practice. Thereby enterprises gain access to the latest scientific cognitions. Students benefit from a practical study.

Der Exzellenzcluster ist darauf ausgerichtet, innovative Lösungen für die gezielte Umwandlung der Hauptbestandteile des Pflanzenmaterials in wertgesteigerte Produkte speziell für Kraftstoffe sowie Kraftstoffkomponenten als die technisch wichtigste und wissenschaftlich anspruchsvollste Anwendung zu finden.

The goal of this cluster is the interdisciplinary design of Ultra high-speed Mobile Information and Communication systems (UMIC) providing an order of magnitude improvement of the perceived quality of service. Concepts and demonstrators for smart, mobile, broadband, low-cost systems will be developed which support the demanding applications of the next-decade mobile Internet.

More than ever before, companies in Germany are facing global competition. Therefore, the question for constraints and success factors to economic product development and production in high-wage countries like Germany needs an answer, particularly in case of products that do not address niche markets, but serve mass markets that are of relevance for national economics.

Our vision is to unify concepts in catalysis by bridging the gaps between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, between elementary gas-phase reactions and complex processes in highly organised biological systems, as well as between fundamental and applied catalysis research.

The EICT is a public-private partnership of scientific institutions, institutes of applied research and leading industrial companies. The strategic innovation partnership pools and specifically links research and development activities in industry and science to information and communication technologies.

A major goal of this Priority Programme is thus the identification of dynamo models which comprise major observed properties of Earth´s magnetic field and the full spectrum of its spatial and temporal variations, in order to answer the question whether the geodynamo is currently approaching a field reversal period.

Fundamental research activities to increase the performance of machine tools are in the centre of the new programme. This can be achieved only by applying innovative basic approaches.

Im Exzellenzcluster "Smart Interfaces" (Intelligente Oberflächen) erforschen Natur- und Ingenieurwissenschaftler, wie die mikroskopische Struktur von Materialoberflächen den Transport von Wärme, Flüssigkeiten oder Gasen beeinflusst und wie sich dieser Transport effizienter steuern lässt.

The Computational Engineering is now regarded as an equal and indispensable partner, along with theory and experiment, in the advance of scientific knowledge and engineering practice. Numerical simulation enables the study of complex engineering systems and natural phenomena that would be too expensive or dangerous, or even impossible.

"Ja" zu Handy, Computer und Internet -- "Nein" zum steigenden Energieverbrauch der Elektronik: So das Ziel des Spitzenclusters, welches unter Federführung von Professor Gerhard Fettweis, Inhaber des Vodafone-Stiftungslehrstuhls für Mobile Nachrichtensysteme an der TU Dresden, nun die Arbeit aufnimmt.

Nachdem sich die TUD bereits mit der Einwerbung eines Exzellenzclusters und einer Graduiertenschule bei der Exzellenzinitiative des Bundes und der Länder durchsetzen konnte, ist sie nun bei der Sächsischen Exzellenzinitiative mit weiteren Forschungsprojekten erfolgreich gewesen.

In dem von der Sächsischen Exzellenzinitiative gefördertem Exzellenzcluster geht es um Mehrkomponentenwerkstoffe mit erweitertem Einsatzspektrum für
Hochtechnologieanwendungen im Maschinen-, Anlagen- und Fahrzeugbau.

The cluster of excellence "From Cells to Tissues to Therapies" at TU Dresden was one of the successful candidates in the first funding round of the government Excellence Initiative, and is the only such cluster in the Eastern German Länder.

Since 1999 scientists of the collaborative research centre 528 work on the baiscs for usage of textile reinforcement for structural strengthening and repair. With textile reinforcements ultimate capacity can be improved as well as higher qualities concerning servecability and durability of reinforced concrete structures and timber structures.

Based on its long standing history in transplantation medicine and on existing extensive activities in cell therapy and tissue engineering, Hannover Medical School has recently funded a centre for basic and clinical research in the area of Regenerative Biology and Reconstructive Therapy, acronym REBIRTH.

Based on well established strategic partnerships between the Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH) and renowned scientific institutions in its vicinity as well as industrial partners a unique blend of competence in quantum engineering and space-time research has been accumulated. This body of experience has led to the founding of the interdisciplinary Centre for Quantum Engineering and Space-Time Research, with the acronym QUEST.

The CFN (Center for Functional Nanostructures) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to fundamental and applied research in some of the most fascinating fields in nanotechnology.

The core of the University of Karlsruhe’s strategy for the future is the planned formation, in conjunction with the Karlsruhe Research Centre (which is part of the Herman von Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Where did our Universe come from? What is it made of? What drives its evolution? How did its fundamental building blocks, galaxies, stars and planets form? Which processes generated the elements out of which we are made? These fundamental questions will be addressed by this cluster of excellence, entitled:

The CoTeSys cluster of excellence investigates cognition for technical systems such as vehicles, robots, and factories. Cognitive technical systems are equipped with artificial sensors and actuators, integrated and embedded into physical systems, and act in a physical world.

Regarding its concept, the Institute challenges an extraordinary level of interdisciplinary research for the most distinguished TUM scientists but, at the same time, becomes attractive to brilliant senior and junior Fellows from outside and from other disciplines. This sets the scene for a scientific dialogue that goes beyond disciplinary borders.

The Cluster of Excellence in Simulation Technology will have the power to strengthen the sustainable evolution of research areas that are of fundamental importance in both science and the economy, as well as to conceive new and visionary applications of simulation sciences. The goal of this proposal is to further intensify the university's engagement in the field of Simulation Technology in order to maintain and to expand our excellent standing in this important and trend-setting field in a dedicated intersectorial structure.

Dynamische Simulationen von Systemen mit Teilchenzahlen bis zu einigen Millionen erlauben es, in den Ingenieurwissenschaften und angrenzenden Fächern in Gebiete vorzustoßen, in denen klassische Ansätze, insbesondere Kontinuumsmethoden, versagen. Die Anwendungsfelder sind dabei vielfältig und reichen von der Mechanik und Thermodynamik über die Materialwissenschaften bis hin zur Bio- und Nanotechnologie.