Unite! honors start-ups for the first time

Unite! meets for the 10th time – and is growing. More members are taking part in the biannual Dialogue, more projects and ideas have emerged and more connections have been made: The Start-up & Innovation Day 2024 (InnoDay24) of the Innovation and Start-up Center HIGHEST at TU Darmstadt concludes the Dialogue and takes the opportunity to also give the start-up scene of the nine partner universities space and to network with each other. For the first time, an international jury of experts will present the Unite! start-up award to the two best start-ups.

Publication in “Nature Communications” on the prediction of avalanches

Even a single person in the snow can exert enough pressure on it to cause a buried weak layer of snow to collapse and the snow cover to slide away. In this case, experts speak of anticracks. The fundamental fracture properties that can lead to powerful slab avalanches are still largely unknown, but crucial in order to accurately predict when avalanches will occur. In the journal “Nature Communications”, researchers led by TU scientist Dr.-Ing. Philipp Rosendahl are now presenting an innovative method that enables the fracture toughness of weak snow layers to be measured in the field under controlled conditions.

Unite! and TU President in an FAZ interview

The X. Dialogue represents another milestone in the five-year history of Unite!. The university alliance is growing, more and more ideas and projects are being implemented and many more connections are being made. TU Darmstadt, coordinator of the university alliance, invites to Darmstadt in September – a good opportunity to take stock. Unite! and TU President Professor Tanja Brühl did just that in an interview with the FAZ.

A self-directed, online and free learning tool designed to deepen your understanding of diversity and inclusion

Do you sometimes feel the world we live in should be more inclusive? And do you feel that your social or work environment is accessible and safe? Can you identify situations that might make you feel uncomfortable or could be improved? Then the “21 Day Diversity and Inclusion Challenge” is for you!

ryon Rhine-Main-Universities Summer School 2024

From October 7 to 11, 2024, the ryon Summer School in Darmstadt and Gernsheim offers the opportunity to help shape the future of synthetic biology and biomaterials. Under the motto “From idea to start-up”, a platform will be created to offer young researchers the opportunity to develop and realize new business ideas. The event is part of the “CoM2Life” cluster project, which is in the running for a cluster of excellence in the prestigious Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments.

Prof. Peter Gruss began his international career as a microbiologist in Darmstadt

He is regarded as an American-style maker and the news magazine “Der Spiegel” once described him as “the humble high-flyer”. In fact, Peter Gruss is one of the world's leading cell biologists. He has successfully conducted research into tumour viruses and gene regulation at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg and in the United States. As President for many years, he developed the Max Planck Society further and strengthened its internationalisation. The basis for his scientific career was a degree in biology at TU Darmstadt. “Studying there was a privilege,” says the alumnus today.

Study led by the TU shows limitations of ChatGPT & co.

According to a new study led by TU Darmstadt, AI models such as ChatGPT are apparently less capable of learning independently than previously assumed. According to the study, there is no evidence that what are known as large language models (LLMs) are beginning to develop a general “intelligent” behaviour that would enable them to proceed in a planned or intuitive manner or to think in a complex way. The study will be presented in August at the annual conference of the renowned Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) in Bangkok, the largest international conference on automatic language processing.

Successful participation in renowned conference

Researchers from the “Reasonable Artificial Intelligence” (RAI) project took part in this year's “Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition” (CVPR) and successfully presented the results of their work in workshops and conference papers. “RAI” is in the running for a Cluster of Excellence in the prestigious Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments.

Clemens Hoch visits cluster project at Mainz University

On his summer trip this year, Rhineland-Palatinate Science Minister Clemens Hoch visited Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) last week and learned about the joint cluster project “CoM2Life” of TU Darmstadt, JGU Mainz and the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.

Alumnus Eginhard Jungmann expresses his thanks to his alma mater

Eginhard Jungmann came to Germany as a young man and late resettler from the former Upper Silesia in 1958. Since he had come across publications and books by two professors teaching in Darmstadt, his path led him to the Technical University. More than 60 years and a successful management career with Siemens later, he now expresses his thanks to his alma mater and his former department of Electrical Engineering by making a generous donation.

Registration is Open!

From 14th to 18th October 2024, the Unite! Research School will bring together MSc and PhD students, as well as researchers from across Europe, in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, Industry 4.0, Nuclear Engineering and Sustainable Electronics.

The European university alliance Unite! meets from September 24 to 26 and presents itself to the public

Since its inception five years ago, the Unite! University Network for Innovation, Technology, and Engineering has thrived thanks to the collaborative efforts of its nine partner universities. Under the theme “Inspiring People – Sparking Innovation,” these events aim to emphasise the collaboration between universities and society, as well as to showcase and disseminate the achievements of the alliance to a wider public.

With renowned international guest speakers

Researchers from the cluster project “The Adaptive Mind” (TAM) with the participation of TU Darmstadt have met for a two-day symposium. At the event in early June at Rauischholzhausen Castle in central Hesse, they discussed the topics of cognition, scene perception, maladaptation and sensory learning. TAM is competing for a Cluster of Excellence in the prestigious Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments.

TU researchers have deciphered the processes that take place in the human mind during navigation

How can human navigation behaviour and its uncertainty be understood? A team of researchers led by TU professor Constantin Rothkopf has provided answers to this question in an article now published in the journal “Nature Communications”. According to their computational analysis, the brain uses both information from body cues (such as the motor memory of the path already travelled) and an internal mental map for navigation. The brain takes into account that the available information is incomplete, imprecise and uncertain – and continuously recomputes the path while considering the respective uncertainties.

TU Darmstadt coordinates EU consortium on macrocycles

Macrocycles are a special class of drugs with complex properties, which can enable unprecedented therapeutic approaches. Now the EU-funded consortium “MC4DD”, led by TU Darmstadt, is focussing on the understanding and accessibility of macrocycles in order to expand the possibilities of drug development.