The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Free State of Saxony and the State of Saxony-Anhalt announced the winning projects in the ideas competition for two new large-scale research centers. Thus, in the coming years, the German Center for Astrophysics DZA is to be established in Lusatia in Saxony and the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry CHEMRESILIENZ in the mining region of Central Germany.
“I wholeheartedly welcome the decision made. During the application phase, both winning projects approached us with the desire for cooperation, which we were very happy to accommodate,” said Dr. Michael Bussmann, Scientific Head of the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding CASUS at HZDR. “At the German Center for Astrophysics DZA, we helped design the part of the application that involves handling and analyzing the masses of data that are generated. With the Center for the Transformation of Chemistry CHEMRESILIENZ, we have agreed to collaborate on the use of artificial intelligence in the development and production of new chemical compounds.”
The two large-scale research centers are intended to contribute to structural change in the traditional lignite mining regions. This goal can be well achieved with the successful applications, HZDR’s Scientific Director Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt said in a statement.
The Lusatian project DZA has already announced its intention to establish two main locations in Eastern Saxony. An underground research laboratory, the Low Seismic Lab, is to be built in the region of Hoyerswerda, Bautzen and Kamenz, which will also be available for industrial applications, such as the development of quantum computers. At the CASUS base in Görlitz, an open research campus embedded in the city is planned to house the centers for astrophysics and data science, the technology center and the center for innovation and transfer.