Joint Berlin Data & AI Center planned
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Berlin is set to become home to a powerful new Data and AI Center following an unprecedented collaboration between four major research institutions. The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Max Delbrück Center, Berlin University Alliance, and Zuse Institute Berlin have signed a joint declaration of intent to establish what they call a "flagship project" for the German capital's research landscape.
According to information from HZB's press release, the partnership aims to tackle pressing societal challenges in health, materials, and climate research through data-driven approaches. The collaboration represents a unique effort to create regionally anchored yet internationally competitive infrastructure for high-performance research.
The ambitious project will kick off with a new high-performance research Data Center at HZB's Berlin-Adlershof site, developed in cooperation with ZIB. The two institutions have been planning intensively for the past year and are pushing to implement the first phase as quickly as possible.
Looking ahead, the partners envision significant expansion through new construction, with computing capacity potentially reaching up to 5 megawatts in the long term. This scale would position Berlin among Europe's top research computing hubs.
The initiative addresses a critical need in modern scientific research, where complex simulations and artificial intelligence applications demand increasingly powerful data infrastructures. By pooling resources and planning jointly, the partners believe they can create a more sustainable and effective approach than individual institutional efforts.
The next phase will focus on exploring funding models, administrative structures, and usage scenarios. These findings will inform a detailed cooperation agreement ensuring long-term, cross-institutional access to the Data Center's capabilities.
