On October 01, 2009, the KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, was founded. Prior to its foundation, enormous efforts had been undertaken by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the state of Baden-Württemberg, and the staff of KIT. A law unanimously adopted by the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament paved the way for the administrative agreement that was signed on July 30, 2009, by the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Professor Annette Schavan, and the Baden-Württemberg Minister for Science, Research, and the Arts, Professor Peter Frankenberg.
After signing the administrative agreement of the Federal Republic of Germany and the state of Baden-Württemberg, the way was free for the establishment of today’s KIT as a public corporation according to Baden-Württemberg law with effect from October 01, 2009. The two precursory institutions, the Universität Karlsruhe and the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, merged into KIT as equal partners.
KIT is considered a model for the successful merger of university and non-university research on equal terms. Moreover, it is deemed a model case illustrating the development capacity of the German science system.
Meanwhile, success has been substantiated by a number of achievements: The acquisition of funds for KIC InnoEnergy, one of only three “Knowledge and Innovation Communities“ selected by the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, became possible due to the capabilities of more than 1100 employees bundled by the KIT Energy Center only. KIT was the only German institution winning this hard competition. Moreover, KIT is the most successful German institution in the acquisition of European research funds. Under the EU 6th Research Framework Programme, KIT succeeded in acquiring about EUR 80 million of funds. KIT was involved in 209 research projects. KIT also is successful in the German research community. In January, Federal Minister Annette Schavan proclaimed the winners of the second round of the excellence cluster competition. KIT is involved in two of the five winner clusters, the microsystems technology cluster “MicroTEC Südwest” and the largest European software cluster “Software innovations for digital business.”
At the moment, KIT is preparing for the second round of the Excellence Initiative. According to schedule, four new proposals each were submitted for graduate schools and excellence clusters on September 01. Successful acquisition of one graduate school and one excellence cluster at least will be the prerequisite for KIT being allowed to submit a follow-up proposal for the Concept for the Future.
During its first Open Day on September 25, KIT presented itself as an entity to a broad public on Campus North. About one third of the institutes participating came from Campus South. An assembly of the employees on September 29 put the staff in the mood for the coming anniversary and further development of KIT.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.