3 January 2022 | Stuttgart

State government paves the way for Cyber Valley Campus

Up to 180 million euros to be invested in Tübingen location

Max Planck Campus and Technology Park in Tübingen © Samuel Zink Film & Medienproduktion

The state government of Baden-Württemberg has cleared the way for the development of the Cyber Valley Campus in Tübingen. A joint concept of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science was approved for the site. According to this concept, the innovation campus, which has grown enormously in its first five years of existence, will be expanded by several buildings, for which up to 180 million euros will be invested over the next few years.

“As the heart of top AI research in Baden-Württemberg, the campus shall underline the ambition to be Europe’s hotspot for top researchers in global competition, also in terms of building structures,” said Science Minister Theresia Bauer. “Already on its fifth birthday, the growing Cyber Valley is overflowing. With the overall concept, we now have a roadmap so that we can still find working space for our young scientists and researchers after next year. I thank the Minister of Finance and the Rector of the University of Tübingen for enabling us to develop a viable overall concept instead of short-term solutions.”

Minister of Science Theresia Bauer: “The concept underlines the ambition to be Europe’s hotspot for cutting-edge AI research”

Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz said: “We are investing to make Baden-Württemberg the California of Europe. We strive to be at the forefront of artificial intelligence, and Cyber Valley is enormously important for that.”

The Cyber Valley Campus will also host a planned ELLIS Institute, for which the state is currently in coordination with the Hector Foundation, and the University of Tübingen’s AI Competence Center, which is financed by Germany’s federal government and Baden-Württemberg’s state government and jointly operated with the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. The concept that has now been approved forsees the construction of two additional buildings for research, teaching and seminars, as well as the purchase of an existing building on the future campus site.

Finance Minister Danyal Bayaz: “We want to become the California of Europe”

Professor Dr. Bernd Engler, Rector of the University of Tübingen, said: “Cyber Valley has become a magnet for outstanding AI researchers from all over the world. Not only the state of Baden-Württemberg, but also the federal government, companies and private foundations are currently investing large sums in bright minds and will continue to do so in the future. However, the researchers also need office space, laboratories and computing capacity. Therefore, it has been essential to also increase investments in infrastructure and to significantly accelerate the pace of building up Cyber Valley now, in order to realize the enormous potential of the location.”

ELLIS Institute:

With outstanding support from funds pledged by the H. W. & J. Hector Foundations to attract top AI scientists, the ELLIS Institute, backed by a scientific association, will be established within the Cyber Valley ecosystem. The foundation's commitment requires financial participation by the state. The state is currently coordinating arrangements with the Hector Foundation in this regard.

ELLIS stands for European Laboratory for Learning & Intelligent Systems and was founded by leading researchers from Europe who work closely with basic researchers from industry. The overarching goal of ELLIS is to establish European cutting-edge research in the field of artificial intelligence as internationally competitive. Europe should not only contribute to how AI and machine learning are changing the world, but also make an economic impact by creating new jobs.

More information on ELLIS: https://ellis.eu

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