Educating, researching, developing and creating new perspectives – together:the German research centre DESY and the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) today agreed on a new strategic Cooperation for Application and Innovation (KAI). The cooperative venture will focus on cooperative degree programmes and teaching, research and development as well as innovation, technology and knowledge transfer. KAI is to strengthens the joint training of urgently needed highly qualified engineers and scientists. KAI will help shape Hamburg’s structural transformation to become a science and innovation metropolis in the north, through applied research and by developing sustainable and digital technologies. The City of Hamburg supports the cooperation with start-up funding of 120 000 euros.

Hamburg´s Science Senator Katharina Fegebank says: “We need cooperative ventures like KAI to make the Hamburg metropolitan region even more attractive and competitive as a place for doing science. HAW Hamburg and DESY have already been working together successfully for many years in degree courses and teaching, research and development as well as innovation and technology transfer. The strategic Cooperation for Application and Innovation (KAI) will take this cooperation to a new level, which is very good news for the research scientists, students and industrial partners at both institutions – but also for Hamburg as a place for doing science. The key competences of the two partners complement each other perfectly: on the one hand, HAW Hamburg with its strong practical orientation and outstanding quality of academic study and teaching; on the other hand, DESY, one of the world’s leading accelerator facilities, as an exciting field of application for innovative research and prospective specialists alike. The new cooperation will combine the best of both worlds and create excellent opportunities, be it in the field of cooperativedegree programmes, application-oriented research projects or spinning off innovative business ideas. I am particularly pleased that these stimuli will also further strengthen Science City Hamburg-Bahrenfeld as a site where outstanding research, excellent education and forward-looking business are carried out.”

The strategic cooperation is to advance innovative technologies for some of society’s most pressing problems. In this connection, KAI will also offer high-powered, tailormade and integrating qualification programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Together, the partners also want to encourage start-ups and create a stimulating climate for spin-offs.

Professor Helmut Dosch, Chairman of DESY´s Board of Directors: “We are tackling the big challenges facing society through joint research activities: KAI will allow us to accelerate innovation processes and technology transfer by bringing together fundamental and applied research and creating new perspectives in the development of sustainable and digital technologies. At the same time, we are creating outstanding conditions for highly qualified education and training.”

Professor Micha Teuscher, President of HAW Hamburg: “For years, DESY and HAW Hamburg have enjoyed a successful collaboration in a wide range of disciplines. It is exactly this that forms the basis for our new strategic cooperation. Through KAI we are sending a strong signal that applied research at HAW Hamburg and fundamental research at DESY complement each other perfectly. That way we are promoting the collaboration between applied sciences and industry, and supporting the development of new technologies. The entire Hamburg metropolitan region will benefit from this as a place for doing science.”

The list of concrete areas of cooperation ranges from real-time control technologies for highly complex accelerator facilities, through visual simulation and robotics, efficient energy systems, scientific computing, intelligent sensor systems, spectroscopy and measurement data processing, embedded electronics and electronics development, all the way to scientific illustration. There are plans to further extend this range of topics. Likewise, a joint site is planned in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld, which is currently under construction, in order to expand and further develop the joint activities in the area of transfer-oriented research and in the area of start-ups.

 

Areas of cooperation:

Cooperative degree programmes:

Starting from the winter semester 2021/22, the new cooperativedegree programme “Applied Computer Sciences” will be offered. DESY and HAW Hamburg have already been cooperating successfully for many years in the courses of study “Mechanical Engineering and Production – Development and Design” and “Electrical Engineering and Information Technology”.

“DASHH – Data Science in Hamburg”:

HAW Hamburg has recently become a partner of the graduate school DASHH (Data Science in Hamburg, Helmholtz Graduate School for the Structure of Matter) which is coordinated by DESY. Four computer science professors at HAW Hamburg are actively involved in the graduate school's programme.

Research and development:

Both partners want to continue to jointly advance transfer-oriented research and the development of new technologies. The focus is on areas such as robotics and scientific computing as well as integrated microelectronics and mechatronics.

Innovation and technology transfer:

DESY and HAW Hamburg have the experience and competence to translate the results of research and development into practical industrial applications. DESY and HAW Hamburg are already working together closely in the Hamburg project “beyourpilot”, which supports knowledge-based spin-offs. Further transfer activities are to follow within the framework of the new strategic cooperation KAI.