ELIZA selected as ‘Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence‘

The graduate school ‘Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELIZA)‘, a network of 14 partners led by the Technical University of Darmstadt, has been awarded a grant by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to establish a ‘Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence‘. ELIZA was founded by seven ELLIS Units in Germany to provide the highest level of academic training to the next generation of AI researchers.

The DAAD grant is a recognition of the outstanding scientific work performed by the institutions part of ELIZA. With its program "Konrad Zuse Schools of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence", DAAD supports the training of German and international AI talents at the master’s and doctoral level in Germany, and thus strengthens the international competitiveness of Germany in this field. ELIZA will receive a funding of up to three million euros a year to expand its activities.

Interdisciplinary research and a strong connection to industry

ELIZA connects seven German ELLIS Units (Berlin, Darmstadt, Freiburg, Heidelberg, München, Saarbrücken, Tübingen) including their academic institutions and industry partners, and aims to become the leading German brand for research and research training in machine learning-driven AI. The network offers master’s and doctoral students supervision by renowned scientists, interdisciplinary research projects and a strong collaboration with industry. 35 of the 48 initial academic ELIZA Fellows are ELLIS Fellows. Coordinated by ELLIS Fellow Stefan Roth, a professor of computer science at the Technical University of Darmstadt, ELIZA’s activities focus on areas such as: fundamentals of machine learning including related areas, e.g. computer vision, natural language processing and robot learning, machine learning systems, applications in autonomous systems, and transdisciplinary applications of machine learning in other scientific fields (from life sciences to physics).

Academic partners involved in ELIZA are: Technical University of Darmstadt, German Cancer Research Center (dkfz), European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), Free University of Berlin, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Max Planck Institute for Software Systems, Technical University of Berlin, Technical University of Munich, Saarland University, University of Freiburg, Heidelberg University, and University of Tübingen.

Among the ELIZA industry partners are: Aignostics, Aleph Alpha, Amazon, BioRN, Bosch, Cellzome, Facebook, Google, Intel, Merantix, Mercedes Benz, Siemens, Toyota, valeo.ai, and Volkswagen.

More information Read the press release of the Technical University of Darmstadt here. Click here for the press release issued by DAAD.