Innovations in AI-assisted social sciences, sustainable agriculture and medicine are being funded in the third round of prototyping grants by the Transfer Center enaCom at the University of Bonn. Whether an AI solution for better understanding of scientific communities, a robot that treats weeds differently depending on the species, or a preventive nasal spray - scientists from the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn are developing innovative prototypes for practical challenges of our time. With the prototyping grants, their research findings are prepared for a planned commercialization. The grants with a funding amount of up to €50,000 are regularly awarded by the Transfer Center.

With a total of 11 researchers, the University of Bonn is represented this year in the international ranking "Highly Cited Researchers". According to the creators of the ranking, the individuals on this list of "Highly Cited Researchers" are among the world's most influential one percent of their field.

Tropentag, the largest interdisciplinary conference in Europe, recently unfolded its chapters in Berlin, and HortiBonn proudly contributed to the vibrant discussions on “Competing Pathways for Equitable Food Systems Transformation: Trade-offs and Synergies.”

During the action month "Sustainable September", all university members can once again look forward to great (hands-on) activities around the topics of sustainability.

Producing sufficient food, feed, fiber, and fuel for our world population while simultaneously reducing the environmental footprint of agricultural production is a great challenge for humanity. DigiCrop.Net is a new platform of four leading research organizations from across the world who aim at supporting this endeavor with technology-driven approaches as key elements of possible solutions. Together, the partners seek to address central challenges and investigate novel ways for achieving sustainable crop production.

Farmers usually plant so-called cover crops after harvesting their main crop in the Fall. This prevents erosion of the soil and nutrient leaching. The roots of these crops also stabilize the structure of the soil. It had been assumed up to now that a mixture of different cover crops would result in particularly intensive rooting. However, a recent study carried out by the University of Bonn, University of Kassel and University of Göttingen found only limited evidence that this is the case. Instead, mixed cover crops grow thinner roots than when just one single type of cover crop is planted. This result was unexpected. It documents how little is currently understood about the interactions between plant roots. The study was published in the magazine “Plant and Soil.”

The 5th INRES - Minisymposium (INRES Day) will take place on August 24 on the Campus Poppelsdorf in the lecture hall center "CP1-HSZ", Endenicher Allee 19C, 53115 Bonn, Germany.

Gases that are harmful to health and the climate are produced wherever livestock are kept. Although there are various ways of supposedly reducing these emissions, it is often impossible to say with any certainty how effective they are. This is because recording precise levels of harmful gases has so far been a laborious, costly and time-consuming process. A Germany-wide joint project is now setting out to change that with the help of more than €10,5 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The official funding certificate has been presented yesterday by Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir at a ceremony in Potsdam. Among other things, the methods being developed are intended to identify particularly efficient ways of reducing emissions.