In an interview with the German Press Agency (dpa), the Minis-ter-President of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, de-mands enhanced collaboration of the state’s universities.
“Close collaboration of universities with each other is a success factor of our state. For many years now, KIT has established close strategic partnerships and strategic collaborations with other univer-sities in Baden-Württemberg,” says the President of Karlsruhe Insti-tute of Technology (KIT), Professor Holger Hanselka. “The strategic added value of the partners are both the prerequisite and the objec-tive of collaboration. The Heidelberg Karlsruhe Strategic Partnership (HeiKA) of KIT and Heidelberg University, for example, represents a strategic collaboration with the declared objective to create a re-search and development space that is unique in Germany and inter-nationally visible. Just like HeiKA, the Center for Electrochemical Energy Storage Ulm & Karlsruhe (CELEST) run in cooperation with Ulm University and the Helmholtz Institute Ulm together with Ulm University and other partners have been crucial to the success of all partners in the Excellence Strategy.” Within the framework of the Excellence Strategy, KIT acquired the Cluster of Excellence “3D Matter Made to Order” with Heidelberg University and the Cluster of Excellence “Post Lithium Storage” together with Ulm University.
At the Innovation Campus “Future Mobility” funded by the State of Baden-Württemberg with EUR 10 million, which is officially opened in Stuttgart today, KIT and the University of Stuttgart conduct re-search in the areas of additive manufacture and zero-emissions drives. “To adequately cope with the big topics and challenges of society, such as energy, mobility, and artificial intelligence, strategi-cally coordinated collaboration across institutions is of crucial im-portance,” Hanselka emphasizes. “We can only develop solutions when the strongest partners pool their complementary competen-cies. Strategic collaboration projects are of major significance to research, teaching, and innovation at KIT.” In the trinational confed-eration of EUCOR, KIT and Freiburg University closely cooperate with the universities of Basel, Strasbourg, and Mulhouse in re-search, teaching, and innovation. Collaboration of universities and further partners also is an important factor of the Baden-Württemberg Test Area for Autonomous Driving (TAF-BW) and the Karlsruhe High-performance Center for Mobility Research.
In close partnership with society, KIT develops solutions for urgent challenges – from climate change, energy transition and sustainable use of natural resources to artificial intelligence, sovereignty and an aging population. As The University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT unites scientific excellence from insight to application-driven research under one roof – and is thus in a unique position to drive this transformation. As a University of Excellence, KIT offers its more than 10,000 employees and 22,800 students outstanding opportunities to shape a sustainable and resilient future. KIT – Science for Impact.