Double excellence

In the second round of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments to further strengthen top-level research at universities in Germany, the decisions on the future Clusters of Excellence were made on May 22, 2025. The Excellence Commission, made up of scientists from the international Committee of Experts (formerly the Expert Panel) and the science ministers of the federal and state governments, selected a total of 70 Clusters of Excellence for funding from 98 applications in Bonn. The Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) was involved in three applications, of which two were selected for further funding as Clusters of Excellence. At the University of Stuttgart, the IntCDC Cluster of Excellence will receive funding for another seven years, while at the University of Tübingen, the MPI-IS will contribute to the continued success of the Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science Cluster of Excellence.

Katherine J. Kuchenbecker is the Director of the Haptic Intelligence Department at MPI-IS and involved in IntCDC. She is delighted about the continued funding for the Cluster: "Achim Menges and the rest of the highly talented IntCDC team have done it again! Architecture, building engineering, and construction have enormous environmental, economic, and societal impacts on society, but alarmingly little of this work benefits from modern digital technologies like robotics and AI. I am so proud that the hard work of the IntCDC team has paid off through the well-deserved extension of this marvelous local research community. I had a really good feeling in Bonn after we finished our presentation, Q&A, and poster session with the reviewers, and now I know my intuition was right!"

“We are delighted that we will be able to intensify the collaboration between the University of Stuttgart and MPI-IS in the second funding phase of the Cluster of Excellence to jointly develop intelligent building and construction systems for sustainable and climate-positive architecture,” says Achim Menges, one of the world's most renowned architects and head of IntCDC. Since June 2024, Menges is also a Max Planck Fellow. At MPI-IS in Stuttgart, he heads the research group “Building and Construction Systems.”

With regard to the Machine Learning Cluster of Excellence, Kuchenbecker adds: "I am delighted to hear that the world-class machine learning community in Tübingen has been recognized by the DFG with the extension of the Machine Learning for Science excellence cluster! Every doctoral researcher in this cluster takes part in IMPRS-IS, the main doctoral program of MPI-IS, and there are myriad other connections between our institute's researchers and the activities of this cluster."

About the Cluster of Excellence Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science

The field of machine learning has developed rapidly in recent years. This opens up promising opportunities for science to improve the predictive power of models and, for example, to forecast climate change more accurately. The Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science” has been in existence since 2019. In the first funding period, researchers used machine learning techniques to gain new insights into a wide range of scientific fields: for example, they expanded knowledge about the basic building blocks of the brain and deepened understanding of gravitational waves in physics.

However, machine learning methods still have weaknesses in terms of reliability, robustness, and interpretability. In its second funding period, the Cluster of Excellence aims to further develop such methods and integrate automated learning processes into the entire scientific work process. The researchers will demonstrate the potential of this approach in a wide range of disciplines, for example by identifying the causes of disease progression or elucidating the dynamics of quantum systems.

The spokespersons for the research network are computer scientist Professor Ulrike von Luxburg and neuroscientist Professor Philipp Berens, Director of the Hertie Institute for AI in Brain Health. In addition to the University of Tübingen, the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, the ELLIS Institute Tübingen, the Leibniz Institute for Knowledge Media, and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) are also involved.

All the Tübingen based Directors of MPI-IS are also cluster members: Michael J. Black, Bernhard Schölkopf and Moritz Hardt.

More information about the Cluster of Excellence can be found on the website of the University of Tübingen.

About the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computer-Based Planning and Construction for Architecture Cluster IntCDC: Sustainable Planning and Construction

The construction sector consumes more than 50 percent of global resources, causes 40 percent of all CO2 emissions and 50 percent of waste. At the same time, the considerable need for construction and renovation cannot be met due to stagnating productivity. Since 2019, the Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture" (IntCDC) has been developing the methodological foundations to transform the construction industry. The researchers are adopting a uniquely interdisciplinary approach. The nine IntCDC demonstrator buildings, developed in partnership with industry, integrate digital design, planning methods, cyber-physical processes, and sustainable materials and construction systems. "Interdisciplinary co-design enabled us to develop innovative construction methods that greatly reduce resource consumption and CO₂ emissions. We have significantly increased productivity through robotic construction and new forms of human-machine interaction and created new architectural possibilities,” says IntCDC spokesperson and Leibniz Prize winner Professor Achim Menges. In the second funding phase, the University of Stuttgart, in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and Bauhaus Erde, aims to evolve co-design into a co-agency approach. The focus will be on advancing bio-based building materials, AI technologies, and efficient, circular digital planning and construction. The Stuttgart Center for Integrative Computer-Based Planning and Building is being established to anchor a leading international research center at the University of Stuttgart in the long term.

Information about the Cluster of Excellence can be found on the website of the University of Stuttgart.