The Max Planck Society founds a new Institute for Cyber Security and Privacy in Bochum. "For our research area IT Security, which ranks internationally at the top with the new excellence cluster Casa, this results in an ideal cooperation partner in direct neighbourhood", says Prof. Dr. Axel Schölmerich, Rector of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB).
The Technical University of Dortmund also offers its large Faculty of Computer Science a variety of points of contact. "The research field of IT security perfectly complements our strengths in artificial intelligence and big data," says Prof. Dr. Ursula Gather, Rector of the TU Dortmund.
Broad range of research topics
The IT security specialists at the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security (HGI) of the RUB deal with the whole range of research topics in this field, starting with security for web browsers and smartphones, through embedded security, which develops security solutions for the Internet of Things, to the human factor in IT security. The projects of the NRW Research College Sec-Human, in which tandems of technicians and humanities scholars conduct joint research, and the state-wide Research Training Group Nerd NRW, both coordinated by the HGI, revolve around the latter.
Dortmund can look back on a long tradition in computer science: one of the first faculties for computer science in Germany was founded here back in 1972. Today, the faculty coordinates one of four nationwide competence centers for machine learning, participates in the Dortmund Data Science Center and accompanies various developments in industry 4.0, especially in logistics and production.
Unique ecosystem for cyber security
In the immediate vicinity of the Ruhr-Universität, a unique ecosystem for cyber security has been created in Germany. Bochum, for example, is a European leader in the field of start-ups in the field of cyber security, which are also supported by the IT security incubator Cube5. The Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) in Bochum, which focuses on the interaction between the Internet and society, also supports the Bochum ecosystem.
The fact that the Ruhr area has long been very successful in transferring research results from IT to practice is also demonstrated by the technology park in neighbouring Dortmund. Over the past three decades, numerous computer science spin-offs have settled here in the immediate vicinity of the university.
Creating Knowledge Networks
"The establishment of the Max Planck Institute fits in perfectly with our strategy of networking even more closely with non-university research institutions in line with our mission statement, Creating Knowledge Networks," says Axel Schölmerich. "At the same time, it is an important impulse for the further development of Bochum as a city of science". Both universities have been cooperating very successfully with existing Max Planck Institutes in the Ruhr area for several years.
"This is great news for Bochum," says Bochum's Lord Mayor Thomas Eiskirch. "I am extremely pleased with the vote of the Max Planck Society. The establishment of a new Max Planck Institute will build on existing excellence and make Bochum the capital of IT security. Congratulations to Axel Schölmerich and his team and the Horst Görtz Institute".
Ideas for the location
Mark 51°7 seems to be the ideal location for the new Max Planck Institute. Here, the RUB and its partners will promote the transfer between science, industry and society on a technology campus and signed the lease agreement for part of the former Opel administration building in the spring of this year to set up a maker space there, among other things. Just recently, the Bosch Group settled there with a company that is also active in the field of IT security.
Press contact
Dr. Barbara Kruse
press spokeswoman
Department of Higher Education Communication
Ruhr University Bochum
Phone: 0234 32 22133
E-mail: barbara.kruse(at)uv.rub.de
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