Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch and Provost Holger Gottschalk together with the rectorate team welcomed the distinguished visitor from Berlin on the new Poppelsdorf campus of the University. During talks with the Rectorate, Bonn's clusters of excellence and other committee representatives, Federal Minister Karliczek learned about the progress being made in implementing the Excellence Strategy.
Transdisciplinary research develops future-oriented technologies
The clusters of excellence establish internationally visible and competitive research structures and are funded with three to eight million euros annually. In Bonn, six clusters of excellence are funded, from mathematics to immunology, from dependency research to robotics for sustainable agriculture, from economics to quantum physics. After discussions with representatives of the Bonn clusters of excellence, the minister had researchers from the cluster of excellence "PhenoRob - Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production" present current projects to her. The transdisciplinary joint project at the interface of plant breeding, agricultural science and computer science is testing the use of autonomous systems such as drones and robots for sustainable agriculture of the future. With this research project, the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Bonn, the only one in North Rhine-Westphalia, is developing technologies to redesign agricultural production in a climate and environmentally friendly way.
Ambitious plans
As part of its future concept entitled "WE invest in people. WE foster networks. WE create impact.", the University has set itself ambitious goals: it wants to offer outstanding individuals from all over the world an ideal environment for creative scientific work and promote research talent at all career levels. To sharpen the research profile, six transdisciplinary research areas have been defined that address key scientific, technological and societal issues of the future. At the same time, they are exploration and innovation spaces in which scientific potential areas will continue to develop in dialogue with the areas of excellence. In this way, the University of Bonn is to be permanently established among the best universities in Europe.
At the end of her visit, Federal Minister Karliczek said: "With the Excellence Strategy, we are sustainably strengthening Germany's position as a center of science in international competition and making it more visible internationally. The University of Bonn is a good example of this. The funding as a University of Excellence testifies to the scientific strength and strategic capability of the University of Bonn. The acquisition of six clusters of excellence is unique in Germany. I was particularly impressed by the live presentation of the work in the excellence cluster 'PhenoRob'. I am very pleased that the important topic of sustainable agriculture is also being funded in the Excellence Strategy."
Rector Hoch said, "We were extremely pleased to be able to inform Federal Minister Anja Karliczek about the current implementation as well as the future plans of our strategy during her visit. The Excellence Strategy is recognized worldwide and has undoubtedly proven itself as a great initiative of the federal and state governments. I am convinced that today, as a University of Excellence, we have once again been able to illustrate in very concrete terms that this has enabled us to create internationally visible and competitive profile areas that address essential global issues for the future."
The Clusters of Excellence located at the University of Bonn:
• Hausdorff Center for Mathematics
• ImmunoSensation2
• Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies logo
• PhenoRob
• ECONtribute: Märkte & Public Policy
• ML4Q - Matter and light for quantum computing
Further informationcan be found here:
https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/research-and-teaching/research-profile/excellence-strategy/clusters-of-excellence?set_language=en
