Six Saxon academic endeavors under the Excellence Initiative - Research endeavors in Saxony, supported by the Excellence Initiative, number six in total.
In 2026, six research clusters in Saxony were successful in securing their positions in the Excellence Initiative, a collaborative project between the federal and state governments. Among the 70 projects nationwide to receive funding for the next seven years are five projects from the Technical University of Dresden (TU Dresden) and one from the University of Leipzig. Two projects from the TU Dresden and one from the University of Leipzig did not make the cut.
The TU Dresden maintained its ongoing clusters, with "Physics of Life," "Complexity and Topology in Quantum Materials," and "Center for Tactile Internet" being among those selected. Two new projects from Dresden include "REC2," which aims to establish the scientific basis for future electronics, focusing on sustainable and resource-efficient production, and "Care," a collaboration with RWTH Aachen to develop climate-neutral and efficient construction methods.
In Leipzig, the Center for Metabolism at the University of Leipzig was also chosen for funding. Its goal is to enhance our understanding of diseases caused by metabolic disorders, such as diabetes mellitus, fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular diseases.
Launched in 2016, the Excellence Strategy aims to bolster top-tier research at German universities and raise the profile of Germany as a competitive research powerhouse. The initiative provides funding for seven years, with each cluster receiving a yearly allocation of 8 to 10 million euros, with the states contributing 25%. This round of funding resulted from the evaluation of 98 applications from 47 universities across Germany. Approximately 539 million euros are made available annually for these projects.
The Center for Chiral Electronics, a project involving the Universities of Halle, Freie Universität Berlin, Regensburg, and the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle, is another example of a project funded under the Excellence Strategy. The CCE seeks to develop novel ideas for energy-efficient electronics based on chirality, a property that offers stability against external sources of disturbance, potentially paving the way for the next generation of electronics and memory technologies.
These projects are intended to strengthen Germany's research sector and provide a competitive edge in the global research landscape.
- The 'Physics of Life' cluster at TU Dresden, focusing on healthcare-and-wellness and medical-conditions, aims to deepen our understanding of life processes at the molecular level, contributing significantly to the community's policy on health-and-wellness.
- The 'Care' project, a collaboration between TU Dresden and RWTH Aachen, is centered around education-and-self-development and technology, with a goal to develop climate-neutral and efficient construction methods, promoting a sustainable approach to vocational training in the field of architecture and engineering.
- The Center for Chiral Electronics, a cross-university project under the Excellence Strategy, is dedicated to science and technology, with an emphasis on developing energy-efficient electronics based on chirality. This research holds the potential to revolutionize vocational training in the electronics and memory technologies sector, keeping Germany at the forefront of global research and innovation.
