Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Heidelberg University expand their successful cooperation in research and add the promotion of young talent, teaching, and innovation to the activities of the shared scientific institution “Heidelberg Karlsruhe Research Partnership” (HEiKA). Thus, the research cooperation becomes a strategic partnership. The President of KIT Professor Holger Hanselka and the President of Heidelberg University Professor Bernhard Eitel signed the framework cooperation agreement. The new “Heidelberg Karlsruhe Strategic Partnership” will continue under the short name HEiKA.
“Our long-standing successful cooperation of trust with Heidelberg University offered us ideal conditions for developing the research partnership as part of HEiKA,” says President of KIT, Professor Holger Hanselka. “Within this research group, we have made considerable progress in the last few years in achieving our common vision of creating a unique research and development setup unrivaled on the national stage and with international visibility. We want to continue on this path with this new cooperation agreement.”
“Making use of the complementary strengths of both institutions through a privileged and close cooperation that is of benefit to both of us – this will be the focus of the planned expansion of our long-standing partnership,” says the President of Heidelberg University, Professor Bernhard Eitel. “Heidelberg University and KIT have agreed on continuing our close collaboration and on making use of our complementary strengths as partners. Students as well as research, industry, and society will profit from our Heidelberg Karlsruhe Strategic Partnership.”
Scientific contacts between Karlsruhe and Heidelberg have a decades-long tradition. In 2011, they were institutionalized through the establishment of HEiKA that was to pool the specific expertise of both institutions for internationally visible cutting-edge research in pioneering fields of work. Since then, the partners have worked closely together on jointly defined subject areas within several cooperation projects which are combined in currently six “research bridges”. Two HEiKA cluster proposals of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Heidelberg University have made it into the next round of the Excellence Strategy competition.
The signed new agreement expands HEiKA cooperation into a strategic partnership of a much wider scope based on existing structures. In the longer term, it is planned to establish joint research institutes, study programs, and graduate schools. Work in the areas of innovation and transfer also will be intensified, with the already existing InnovationLab, an application-oriented research platform for technology transfer operated together with businesses, serving as an example.
HEiKA Symposium on Dark Matter
DUNKLE MATERIE – UNSICHTBARE WELTEN (dark matter – invisible worlds) will be the topic of the next HEiKA symposium on June 8, 2018 in Heidelberg. HEiKA aims to address students, scientists, and the general public with this symposium; the event is open to everyone. High-caliber speakers will look at the subject of dark matter from different perspectives.
For more information, click http://www.heika-research.de/english/index.php
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