Powerful impulse from Hightech Agenda Bavaria

FAU to receive a total of 50 new professorships

As a result of the Hightech Agenda Bavaria presented in autumn by Bavarian Minister President Dr. Markus Söder and now explained in more detail at the conference at Kloster Seeon, FAU is to receive eight professorships in the area of artificial intelligence (AI), a further three in computer science and 39 research professorships by 2023. The professorships include a staff and equipment budget of roughly 12 million euros as well as funding for construction work.

Four AI professorships and ten research professorships with a corresponding budget are to be filled in financial year 2020, and the others should follow successively in 2022 and 2023. FAU as a whole is set to benefit from the 39 new professorships designated for boosting research, as rather than increasing the overall capacity of the University, they are intended to reduce the individual teaching duties of scientists who are particularly skilled at research. ‘This will allow us to focus specifically on chosen areas in innovative fields of research,’ explains FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger. ‘I am convinced that this will be a further incentive for our researchers to procure projects and carry out cutting-edge research.’

Within the framework of the Agenda, more than 750 new places are to be created at FAU on degree programmes in high-tech subjects, and funding will be provided for the centres for expertise in digital teaching and learning (DigiLLabs), one of three key interdisciplinary research areas in teaching degree programmes in Erlangen and Nuremberg. Hornegger emphasises: ‘For us, this recognises the efforts we have made to establish a particular profile in innovative research areas in recent years, and will allow us to focus even better on particular topics in future. Like FAU, the state of Bavaria recognises the importance of focusing on cutting-edge research and providing students a solid grounding in subjects which reinforce the significance of Bavaria as a high-tech location.’

Hornegger is also pleased that the Hightech Agenda Bavaria will also make a significant contribution towards the most pressing construction measures. By 2023, a total of 670 million euros are to be invested throughout Bavaria in current construction projects, ongoing planning and explicitly also in new buildings such as the Department of Chemistry building in Erlangen. ‘All in all, this is a significant impetus for Middle Franconia as a science location and from now on our FAU will be in an optimal strategic position to compete at a national and international level,’ says Hornegger.

Science minister Bernd Sibler emphasises the importance of the funding. ‘Science and research are at the heart of our progress, our insurance for the future. With the Hightech Agenda we are investing massively in the future of Bavaria as a location for research: more than 13,000 new places are to be created in degree programmes in computer science, digitalisation and technology. That is a powerful signal for the future and a clear promise to our universities. We have made a conscious effort to provide additional positions and new places on degree programmes at every state university throughout the whole of Bavaria. This is a courageous and forward-looking step in times such as these in which other states are focusing on securing training capacities.’

Further information

Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger
Phone: +49 9131 8570229
presse@fau.de