Novel cutting-edge AI research Centre in Berlin is funded with millions of euros by the German Government and the State of Berlin
The Berlin Institute for the Foundation of Learning and Data (BIFOLD) bundles AI expertise in the German capital merging the Berlin Centre for Machine Learning (BZML) and the Berlin Big Data Center (BBDC).
Anja Karliczek and Michael Müller, © BMBF/Hans-Joachim Rickel
/BMBF, SenK Wissenschaft und Forschung, TU Berlin/ BN, Duppé/
As part of the AI strategy of the German government, a new center of cutting-edge AI research is being built in Berlin. The two existing AI competence centres at the Technische Universität Berlin, the Berlin Big Data Center (BBDC) and the Berlin Centre for Machine Learning (BZML), will be merged in the new Berlin Institute for the Foundation of Learning and Data (BIFOLD), and cooperation with other Berlin partner institutions will be expanded. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research increases the existing funding for the two centres by a further 18 million euros, so that BIFOLD will receive a total of over 32 million euros in funding from the federal budget between 2019 and 2022. The State of Berlin supports the new institute by establishing eight new AI professorships at Technische Universität Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin. 3.5 million euros have already been made available in the current state budget for this purpose.
The Federal Government and the State of Berlin are thus creating an AI nucleus on the campus of Technische Universität Berlin that will closely link research, education, and innovation at the interface of big data and machine learning. The aim is to create a reputable research centre of international standing and visibility, which not only conducts world-class research, but is also able to compete internationally for the leading minds in AI, while at the same time training the urgently needed AI experts of the future.
BIFOLD pursues three main goals: Cutting-edge research in the fields of Big Data and Machine Learning and at their interfaces. The development of technologies, tools and systems in order to firmly establish the topic of AI in science as well as in economy and society, and the training and further education of the AI experts urgently needed worldwide.
In addition to BIFOLD, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research supports five other AI competence centers at the universities of Munich, Tübingen, Dortmund/Bonn and Dresden/Leipzig as well as the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence. These centers are being expanded as part of the AI strategy of the German government. The funding of 64 million euros originally planned for the centres for the years 2019 to 2022 was doubled.
Abbreviated version of original German press release.
