TUM Bundles Competences in Data Science
In Data Science, data are used to answer relevant questions and to solve problems. To tap the potential of data science, TUM has founded the Munich Data Science Institute. In future, the TUM Heilbronn Data Science Center will be established at TUM Campus Heilbronn.
Data Science refers to different scientific disciplines and activities with a common objective: They aim to use data to answer relevant questions and to solve problems. Particularly important: Researchers in the field of fundamentals and application disciplines have to closely cooperate.
As data and data processing become increasingly important, the collection, management, and analysis of data have become major assets for researchers. Equally important: the cooperation between different disciplines and with non-academic actors.
There are some challenges: The potential impact of decisions always has to be kept in mind. Therefore, the application of data science requires critical guidance. Despite the potential repercussions, the enormous opportunities that data science provides prevail. Those have to be balanced with certain risks.
Research Center and Service Institution
To tap the potential of data science, in 2020 TUM founded an interdisciplinary institute, the Munich Data Science Institute (MDSI) – a joint home to data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The MDSI is a research center, a service institution for scientific projects, and a training facility for the next generation of data scientists.
Close to 60 professors of computer, engineering, natural, life and social sciences, and medicine make up the core members of the MDSI. In addition to the focal topics with their strong practical relevance, the MDSI promotes fundamental research on AI and data science. By collaborating closely with institutions in the field of entrepreneurship, the MDSI strives to make current developments available to society quickly.
"Researchers at the TUM HDSC and the MDSI can submit joint project applications and obtain additional tandem positions for the duration of their projects."
According to Prof. Stephan Günnemann of the TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology it is crucial to every practical application to select suitable data structures and analysis methods. The MDSI provides consulting services to researchers at the planning stage and assists them during the entire course of their projects. In addition the MDSI jointly with the Data Innovation Lab has been offering a research internship operated in cooperation with the private sector for many years.
A joint initiative of the MDSI and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, the Konrad Zuse School of Excellence in Reliable AI is a trailblazing project regarding the teaching of AI. Throughout Germany, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Academic Exchange Service finance three Zuse Schools which attract young people who are talented in the field of AI. The teaching content complements the participants’ studies or doctoral programs. Members also have access to internships, sojourns abroad, and certain courses.
TUM Heilbronn Data Science Center Links Diverse Disciplines
The expansion of TUM Campus Heilbronn will include the founding of the TUM Heilbronn Data Science Center (TUM HDSC) which will provide a home to data science. Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar, founding dean and representative of the president for the development of TUM Campus Heilbronn, explains: “The TUM HDSC is designed to be the thematic bracket that links diverse disciplines – mainly computer and business sciences – to foster progress in data science.”
The main task of the TUM HDSC will be to conduct coordinated, cross-discipline research in data science on the continuum of the development of fundamental principles, all the way to practical applications. All the activities will focus primarily on the profile of TUM Campus Heilbronn “for the digital age” and on the resulting interweaving of business administration and computer science aspects.
Close collaboration with the MDSI is supported by a pool of positions on joint projects, among other things. “Researchers at the TUM HDSC and the MDSI can submit joint project applications and obtain additional tandem positions for the duration of their projects. In this way, the TUM HDSC will not only link computer sciences and business administration studies, but also the TUM sites in Heilbronn and Munich,” Prof. Krcmar explains.