Helmholtz invests 18 million Euros in AI innovation ecosystems
Helmholtz Centers enable access to high-performance computers for businesses
To remain competitive in today's economy, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has become essential for companies across almost all industries. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as large corporations face challenges that they can only partially overcome on their own—such as securing the access to extensive datasets or high-performance computers (HPC). HPC Gateway, a new Helmholtz initiative, addresses exactly this: it opens access to the Helmholtz Association's world-leading HPC infrastructure for businesses and connects them with AI experts. The initiative particularly supports projects in the areas of AI, digital twins, and HPC-based innovations.
During the newly launched one-year pilot phase, nine Helmholtz Centers at eight locations are opening their HPC infrastructure to businesses. HPC Gateway aims to foster closer collaboration between research institutions and companies, thereby promoting the development of regional innovation ecosystems in the long term. The goal is to gain a detailed understanding of the specific requirements businesses have for the use of AI and to develop long-term AI services. The process expertise that companies bring to the various projects plays a central role in the development of such services.
The participating Helmholtz Centers not only provide companies with access to HPC infrastructure through cooperative projects, but will also advise companies on how to address their research questions using high-performance computers and how to prepare their data accordingly. In addition, companies gain access to extensive datasets. AI consultants and IT managers, as well as scientific experts from the centers, are available for consultation. Furthermore, a training and further education program for users from both academia and industry is planned to ensure the effective use of HPC capacities and related AI methods long term.
"With HPC Gateway, the Helmholtz Association is committed to making a much-needed and measurable contribution to the federal government's AI strategy," says Otmar D. Wiestler, President of the Helmholtz Association. "This initiative will future-proof numerous companies in the field of artificial intelligence. HPC Gateway has the potential to sustainably strengthen Germany as a hub for research and the economy in times of digital transformation."
Partners from academia and industry will come together through co-designed pilot projects that will take place at the locations of the nine Helmholtz Centers and their surrounding regions. These bilateral projects are co-financed by the participating companies. HPC Gateway builds on the experience gained from predecessor projects, such as the Smart Data Innovation Lab (SDIL). SDIL is a nationwide network funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), where universities and non-university research institutions offer companies computing capacities, data cleanrooms, and consulting services in the field of AI. The goal of HPC Gateway is to roll out comparable offerings on an even broader scale and to assess which existing AI services can be integrated into the initiative. To achieve this, the Helmholtz Association collaborates closely with partners such as the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, with which similar initiatives have already been implemented, particularly at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
Two example projects of the initiative are:
Artificial Intelligence-driven Corrosion Testing (AICORR)
Construction materials used in the aviation industry are exposed to extreme environmental influences over their lifetime, which can, in the worst case, lead to material failure. Protective coatings are considered the most effective method to increase the corrosion resistance and durability of the employed materials and, simultaneously, meet strict safety and airworthiness requirements. As there is an urgent need to develop and implement new coating solutions that minimise the environmental impact, the project “Artificial Intelligence-driven Corrosion Testing (AICORR)” aims to significantly shorten the development cycles for such high-tech coatings. For this purpose, the Institute of Surface Science at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon is working together with Airbus to develop a digital twin of long-term corrosion tests to substitute time-intensive evaluation phases on a laboratory scale.
Center for Industrial Multiphase Flow Competence
Key technologies of the energy transition—from the production of green hydrogen to the cooling of electric car batteries and the capture of CO₂ from exhaust gases—are based on established industrial processes such as multiphase flow. Multiphase flows refer to systems where solid, liquid, or gaseous substances circulate and interact with each other. The project "Center for Industrial Multiphase Flow Competence" utilizes state-of-the-art simulation methods, such as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), to better understand and optimize these complex flows. In addition to the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the project involves the companies BASF SE, MAHLE International GmbH, and Sunfire AG—leading technology corporations in the fields of chemical and process engineering, automotive manufacturing, and hydrogen electrolysis.
Helmholtz is investing a total of 18 million euros in HPC Gateway, supporting the following Helmholtz Association locations:
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (North Rhine-Westphalia)
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Baden-Württemberg)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Saxony)
- GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung (Hesse)
- Helmholtz Munich (Bavaria)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (Hamburg)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon (Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (Berlin)
- Max Delbrück Center (Berlin)
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