xchange refers to multidimensional exchange with our partners. We want to address the major challenges our world faces as much as the needs and problems of our partners. Our partners come from all walks of life: business, civil society, politics and culture.

Are you interested in working with us?

Don’t hesitate to talk to us about our different cooperation formats , or contact our xchange Office directly.

Strategic Partnerships with companies and organisations

The potential of a university partnership for companies, other organisations or institutions often cannot be fully exploited where individual projects are used. In such cases, TU Darmstadt aims to forge longer-term collaborations in what are called Strategic Partnerships. These not only involve various areas of cooperation and working groups at TU Darmstadt, they also normally include several departments.

A strategic partnership includes a range of formats, such as research and development projects, professional development, recruiting and joint events. The aim of a strategic partnership is to develop cooperation in all three core areas of our university, i.e. research, teaching and xchange.

Deutsche Bahn and TU Darmstadt have a long-standing partnership. The cooperation has already been relaunched once, in 2009, as an innovation alliance. In the alliance, Deutsche Bahn and TU Darmstadt aim to jointly overcome technical and technological challenges related to mobility by creating innovations that can be used in transport networks.

The partnership between our university and Deutsche Bahn AG is based on the three pillars of teaching, research & development and talent recruitment.

Merck and TU Darmstadt have been strategic partners since 2006. Until 2020, a close research partnership was maintained in a jointly-run Merck Lab at TU Darmstadt, in addition to a range of bilateral cooperative research arrangements. Since 2020, the focus has been on future-focused sustainability projects as part of the ‘Sustainability Hub’ joint research platform. Joint learning environments outside the classroom are operated in the form of junior laboratories, with the aim of raising the interest of school pupils in science-related topics. Merck is the main funder of the ‘Deutschlandstipendium’ scholarship at TU Darmstadt.

TU Darmstadt and Continental AG have worked together closely since 1986 on the development of driver assistance systems and the creation of comprehensive concepts for accident-avoidance systems for future vehicles. Beyond this, a scholarship was also established as part of the strategic partnership. The Future Leaders Scholarship helps students to attend the University of Tokyo for several months, before they subsequently complete an internship at Continental Automotive Technologies GmbH.

Bosch and TU Darmstadt can look back over a long history as partners, with joint research projects in the form of commissioned and collaborative research. For example, Bosch Rexroth AG has invested in the ETA model factory (ETA Home – ETA-Fabrik) since 2013, which aims to shape the industrial production of tomorrow in a way that is energy-efficient, energy-flexible and resource-efficient. As part of the partnership between Robert Bosch Taiwan Co. Ltd. and TU Darmstadt, the Future Leaders Scholarship assists students to go to Taiwan for eleven months to study at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan.

Since 2018, the Association of Hessian Metal and Electrical Companies (HESSENMETALL) and TU Darmstadt have maintained a Strategic Partnership to intensify xchange between HESSENMETALL member companies (particularly medium-sized firms) and TU Darmstadt. For this purpose, TU Darmstadt and HESSENMETALL initiate research and technology projects in which companies and academics participate. The partnership also includes professional development, start-up funding, events and recruiting.

Partnerships with regional institutions

We believe we have an obligation to discuss, exchange and apply academic knowledge and technologies with partners from science, business, civil society, politics and culture, with the aim of creating innovations for society. Members of civil society and cultural creators involved in the partnership are able to deepen their understanding for the diversity and complexity of academia, technologies and methods. Accordingly, in the xchange partnership our audience includes civil society institutions, political and cultural institutions, as well as private companies. Institutions in Darmstadt are particularly important.

Since 2014, leaders from universities, politics, companies with research arms, cultural institutions and academic institutions have come together under the coordination of the Schader Stiftung in Darmstadt to discuss the self-perception and potential of the ‘City of Science’. The Round Table in Darmstadt, City of Science was initiated by the then TU Darmstadt President, Hans Jürgen Prömel, Darmstadt’s mayor Jochen Partsch and Alois Schader from the Schader Stiftung.

TU Darmstadt has cooperated with the Deutsches Polen Institut (German Polish Institute) since 2006 on issues relating to degree programs & teaching, professional development and research. The Department of History and Social Sciences heads the partnership for TU Darmstadt. An example is the academic project on the guardsmen regiment 115 that was once based in Darmstadt.

Since 2018, the Technical University of Darmstadt and Darmstadt, City of Science have worked to build the digital city of Darmstadt. TU Darmstadt is contributing its wide range of skills to the partnership, particularly in the field of information and intelligence, but also in the mobility, logistics, education and industry 4.0 areas that are relevant to the digital city. The focuses of the partnership include mutual networking and setting of priorities. Darmstadt, the City of Science supports TU Darmstadt research projects. Joint projects are also developed and implemented.

The Odenwald-Akademie (Odenwald Academy), a co-operative institution of TU Darmstadt and the Odenwald district since 1991, promotes two-way communication between science and the public. It brings schools, companies, politicians and interested citizens together with researchers. The Friends of the Odenwald Academy regularly awards a prize of 3,000 euros to TU students for outstanding Master's theses.

Joint professorships at the Technical University (TU) Darmstadt are secondary employment positions that enable scientific collaboration between TU Darmstadt and external organizations, such as companies or research institutions. The holders of such professorships combine their primary employment outside the university with a secondary position at TU Darmstadt. This collaboration promotes the exchange and transfer of knowledge between the university and the external institution. Joint professorships are intended to contribute to providing a current range of courses and to strengthen research and support for young academics at TU Darmstadt. These joint professorships are typically limited to three to six years.

Department of Chemistry

Department of Materials and Earth Sciences

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology

Department of Computer Science

  • Prof. Dr. Arjan Kuijper, Mathematical and Applied Visual Computing
    Cooperation partner: Fraunhofer Institute for Computer graphics Research

Partnerships in research and teaching

In addition to activities related to xchange purposes, TU Darmstadt also maintains partnerships for teaching and research. Examples include cooperation with the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research and the Fraunhofer institutes based in Darmstadt.

At the international level, TU Darmstadt has cultivated strategic partnerships with three selected universities. TU Darmstadt also maintains partnerships with more than 300 universities worldwide .

Alliances and networks – a selection

 
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