Developing the world’s first open-source post-quantum-secure processor system

Specifically, the focus is on a Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) RISC-V processor system. What makes this special: the quantum-resistant security mechanisms are integrated directly at the hardware and system levels. Software-only solutions would not be sufficient to meet the high, future-proof requirements for long-term trustworthy technology, transparency, and resilience. The three-and-a-half-year research program, funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore, brings together the expertise of TUM, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore, Fraunhofer@NTU (FSR@NTU), and the National University of Singapore (NUS). TUM’s Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation, Prof. Gerhard Kramer, emphasizes: “At a time of rapidly changing cyber and civil-society threats, we must ensure the resilience of critical systems as a shared priority for Germany and Singapore. Our world will continue to need robust and trustworthy digital systems in the future.”

How artificial intelligence is changing health care

The goal of the project is to create a digital platform that uses concrete examples to show how AI could change medicine over the next ten years. Using five examples from different stages of patients’ lives, it will present a range of AI applications in medicine – possible examples include genetic analysis in childhood, imaging-based diagnostics, robotic surgery, wearables, and assistance systems in old age. It will highlight both the benefits and an alternative based on today’s non-AI therapies. In this “patient journey,” users will be able to choose between options and experience different scenarios. The project is aimed at a broad public interested in health, especially adults aged 40 and older. The content will explicitly not be defined by the participating research institutions, but developed together with interested members of the public. In two workshops in April, dialogue groups will identify and prioritize relevant topics. Spots are still available for the workshop in Munich on April 23. Registration: https://ey1t7ijo.sibpages.com

Major hydrogen storage potential in Bavaria

To make effective and sustainable use of renewable energy, it must be possible to store the energy generated. A key approach is conversion into hydrogen, which must then be stored in large volumes and made available in line with seasonal demand. Geological storage in suitable subsurface locations is particularly well suited to this purpose and can play a key role in the energy transition. The SpeicherCHeck study aims to find out whether there are potential geological formations in Bavaria that are suitable for safe storage. The focus is on former oil and gas reservoirs as well as active natural gas pore storage facilities. The interim report of the project, which runs until 2027, has now been published and presents initial findings. According to the report, the existing natural gas pore storage facilities in the foothills of the Alps in Bavaria - such as those in Bierwang and Inzenham - are particularly well suited. Natural gas pore storage facilities are underground storage sites in natural, porous rock formations that have previously been used to store surplus natural gas and feed it back into the grid when needed. As a result, most of the required infrastructure is already in place at these locations. The researchers estimate the current storage potential across all sites examined to be between 12.6 and 25.2 terawatt hours (TWh). By comparison, the German National Hydrogen Council estimates the storage capacity of salt caverns in northern Germany at 33 TWh. "Our results show that southern Germany also has very good conditions for geological hydrogen storage," says Michael Drews, Professor of Geothermal Technologies at TUM. "The pore storage facilities available here could therefore make a substantial contribution to diversifying the locations of necessary underground storage facilities and to ensuring energy supply security in a future hydrogen economy." "The participation of the Technical University of Leoben in the project is extremely valuable in terms of cross-border efforts to further develop urgently needed storage capacities and also provides important basic knowledge for other possible applications of geological storage complexes," says Prof. David Misch, Head of the Chair of Energy Geosciences at the Technical University of Leoben.

Democratic innovation through political theory

TUM expands cooperation with Shanghai Jiao Tong University

TUM and SJTU have maintained a successful partnership since 1995, ranging from joint research initiatives to exchange programs for students and faculty. In the past ten years alone, several hundred students from TUM and SJTU have visited each other's campuses. They benefited from exchange programs and joint workshops, gaining valuable international experience and intercultural competencies that will serve them throughout their entire professional careers. Today, SJTU is the most popular destination in China for TUM students. Research cooperation between the two universities has also developed dynamically. Nearly 60 professors from SJTU and TUM have visited each other as part of long-term and short-term exchanges. TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann emphasizes: "The global challenges of our time can only be addressed together. Especially in times of growing geopolitical tensions, world-class universities bear a shared responsibility that goes beyond their competitive pursuit of excellence. They must remain inclusive spaces for encounter and keep their doors open - open to talent, open to ideas and perspectives. That is why TUM is strengthening its bridges to global partners like SJTU, to connect global societies and remain relevant and useful for the advancement of humanity." SJTU will also participate in this year's TUM Sustainability Day. Several professorships from Shanghai will present their research in the fields of architecture, urban planning and sustainable development on April 29, 2026, on the TUM Campus Garching.

Bringing the university into the heart of the city

It was purely by chance that Smilla and her friends stumbled upon the escape room tucked just behind the entrance of the Deutsches Museum. On a visit to Munich with their parents, they now find themselves navigating one puzzle after another—each revealing something new about sustainable energy technologies. “It’s not that easy,” the school student says. Moments earlier, a marble run helped them select the right semiconductor for artificial photosynthesis. Now they are scouring a periodic table poster, searching for the hidden code that unlocks the next challenge. Like the hundreds of people who have played before them, they will solve it. The escape room is just one of the many ways in which TUM brings science into city life—not only here, at the Science Communication Lab of the Deutsches Museum, where researchers can test engagement activities directly with the public, but also at street festivals, school programs, children’s lectures, and pub talks.

“Better design instead of blanket bans”

Prof. Sandra Cortesi and Prof. Urs Gasser from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) explain when artificial intelligence could intervene on smartphones, what role peer groups can play and why children should be involved in shaping their digital education. In the US, Meta and Google were ordered to pay substantial fines just a few days ago for failing to adequately protect children and youths on their social media and video platforms, respectively. What significance do these rulings hold in light of your working group’s findings? Urs Gasser: These rulings could mark a turning point because they underscore that child safety in the digital world is not simply a matter of harmful content, but also a matter of platform design. The courts have examined how platforms are built, what kinds of risks their features generate and whether companies can be held responsible when those risks are foreseeable and insufficiently addressed. These questions strike at the heart of our working group’s recommendations: designing digital spaces to ensure safety, agency and well-being of children and youths from the outset. In the context of the cases heard in the US, this means excluding features that can be addictive and providing protection against abuse by adults. Several countries have banned social media for children under a certain age or are planning to do so. Why are you opposed to a ban? Urs Gasser: Our argument is not against regulation. Legal requirements are indispensable. However, we believe that policymakers should do more than just establish red lines. Rather, they should require providers to design their platforms and products in a child-friendly manner. That is more demanding than a blanket ban, but also more promising. After all, what we really want is for children and youths to be able to learn how to use media autonomously and in a way that has a positive impact on them.

Proof for theory of visual perception

Already in the 1960s, Hubel and Wiesel proposed a model according to which visual perception is the result of orderly, stepwise computations in the brain – with specialized neurons in the cortex responding selectively to specific features, such as edges or the orientations of moving objects. While widely celebrated, important aspects of the theory remained an issue of debate: does this feature selectivity already originate in the thalamus, or does it emerge later in the cortex? The new study addresses this question directly by analyzing signal transmission at individual synapses between the thalamus and the visual cortex - something that had not previously been possible. The research team, led by Prof. Arthur Konnerth, Dr. Yang Chen, and PhD student Marinus Kloos at the Institute of Neuroscience at the TUM School of Medicine and Health and the Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), developed a high-resolution imaging approach to measure synaptic activity in the intact brain. Their findings directly confirm core predictions of the Hubel and Wiesel model. The new research results were published in the prestigious journal Science. “Our results highlight how remarkably accurate and forward-looking Hubel and Wiesel’s insights were,” says Prof. Konnerth. “Modern neuroscience – and even artificial neural networks – continue to build on their principles. Learning from biological systems remains a powerful driver of technological innovation.”

A look inside the School of Medicine and Health

Teaching robots to harvest asparagus

Asparagus is one of the most labor-intensive crops on the market. Especially the harvest is very demanding for precision – the terrain is uneven, and the stalks are thin and of varying length. These challenges inhibit automation, leading to currently available harvesting robots being too slow and inefficient. Researchers at TUM have developed a robot prototype that can maneuver quickly across an asparagus field and identify and locate ripe green asparagus.

Making perovskite solar cells weather-resistant

Perovskite solar cells are among the most promising technologies for making solar power cheaper and more efficient. Working with partners from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchroton), and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, the team uncovered the microscopic mechanisms behind the deterioration of the material through temperature swings and developed a strategy to prevent it. Their approach focuses on stabilizing the fragile crystal structure with specially designed molecular “anchors”.

E-bike crashes especially dangerous for older men

When riding a bicycle becomes more physically demanding, bikes with electric pedal assistance open up new possibilities. “E-bikes help people with heart and circulatory problems in particular stay active despite the limitations they face in everyday life. This is a proven and effective form of prevention, which we as doctors naturally support,” says adjunct teaching professor Dr. Dr. Michael Zyskowski, a senior physician in the Department of Trauma Surgery at TUM University Hospital. But for Zyskowski, the growing number of e-bike crashes is a cause for concern. For the current study, he and his team took a close look at e-bike crash cases treated by the hospital’s trauma surgery department between 2017 and 2023. In total, 103 injured e-bike riders were treated. Nearly half of them were seen in 2023 alone, the final year of the study period – a 50 percent increase over the previous year. “We are continuing to see this trend,” says Zyskowski. “We are now seeing significantly more e-bike crashes throughout the year.” More than a third of the patients treated after an e-bike crash had to be admitted to the hospital. Ten percent were treated in the intensive care unit, almost all of them with severe brain injuries. These patients, almost all men, had an average age of 77. None of them had been wearing a helmet.

TUM among the top 20 in engineering and natural sciences

The British university service provider QS Quacquarelli Symonds compiles its university rankings through surveys of academics and companies. It collects data on the number of citations of published papers as an indicator of the quality of research and also takes into account the international research networks of the surveyed institutions. These indicators are weighted according to the prevailing culture in the various subject areas. In the latest edition, TUM reaffirmed its place among the top 20 universities worldwide in the broad fields of engineering & technology (ranked 16th) and natural sciences (ranked 19th). It thus remains the number one in Germany. In the following individual subjects, TUM placed among the top 25 universities worldwide: Electrical & Electronic Engineering: 19 (1st in Germany) Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering: 19 (1st in Germany) Architecture / Built environment: 25 (2nd in Germany) Chemistry: 25 (1st in Germany) Statistics & Operational Research: 25 (1st in Germany) TUM is among the top 50 in the following subjects: Computer Science & Information Systems: 26 (1st in Germany) Data Science & Artificial Intelligence: 26 (1st in Germany) Physics & Astronomy: 27 (1st in Germany) Materials Science: 31 (3rd in Germany) Civil & Structural Engineering: 37 (1st in Germany) Agriculture & Forestry: 43 (3rd in Germany) Chemical Engineering: 45 (3rd in Germany) Mathematics: 50 (2nd in Germany) In the latest QS World University Rankings, which show overall ratings for universities including further indicators, TUM is ranked 22nd making it the best university in the EU. The excellent research and teaching at TUM is also reflected in other subject rankings. In the most recent THE World University Rankings by Subject, it placed 15th worldwide in computer science, 19th in physical sciences as well as in engineering, 29th in business and economics, 31st in education, 35th in life sciences and 54th in medicine and health. In agricultural sciences, remote sensing, medical technology, ecology and robotic science, TUM ranks among the top 25 universities in the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (Shanghai Rankings).

Nanorobots train stem cells

Prof. Berna Özkale Edelmann’s nanorobots consist of tiny gold rods and plastic chains. Several million of them are contained in a gel cushion measuring just 60 micrometers, together with a few human stem cells. Powered and controlled by laser light, the robots, which look like tiny balls, mechanically stimulate the cells by exerting pressure. “We heat the gel locally and use our system to precisely determine the forces with which the nanorobots press on the cell – thereby stimulating it,” explains the professor of nano- and microrobotics at TUM. This mechanical stimulation triggers biochemical processes in the cell. Ion channels change their properties, and proteins are activated, including one that is particularly important for bone formation. Link to the article: moma future: Roboter trainieren Stammzellen

Resource efficiency in space

In the south of Munich, aerospace has a long tradition. Established companies and emerging start-ups develop satellites, build launch vehicles, and test new propulsion systems here. Within this environment, Europe’s largest campus dedicated to aerospace and geodesy is now taking shape. Its centerpiece—a teaching building designed for around 2,500 students—opened in fall 2025. Along with the TUM Venture Lab Aerospace / Defense, which is located directly on campus, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen,  and other research institutions, a new ecosystem is emerging in the greater Munich area. This ecosystem enables new technologies to efficiently find their way into applications. The focus is increasingly on combining technical innovation with responsibility for Earth and orbit. “Today, space is a key element of Europe’s strategic sovereignty,” says Prof. Chiara Manfletti, who heads the TUM Campus in Ottobrunn-Taufkrichen. “Individual member states—Germany in particular—have announced major investments. We must ensure that this growth is sustainable. Our orbit is a finite environment, and if we want to use it long term, we need rules and responsibility.” 

Research with greater impact

How can democracy be strengthened? What measures can improve public health? How can we make cities and rural areas more livable? Social scientists regularly come up with outstanding ideas that can improve the way we live together. Yet these ideas are not always put into practice. While numerous spin-offs bring new technologies to market, established pathways and funding for knowledge transfer from social sciences are often still lacking. TUM and the TUM Think Tank are therefore participating, alongside seven other universities, in the pilot edition of the Catalyst GER program. Based on a British model, it supports researchers in the social sciences and humanities in finding applications and target groups for their findings, thereby achieving a significant, long-term societal impact.

“The German health care system requires especially robust evidence”

Prof. Sundmacher, can research contribute to making healthcare systems better? In health economics, our work is very practice-oriented. For example, we ask how health care systems can be designed so that existing resources are used as effectively as possible to deliver care while keeping the system financially sustainable over the long term. Decisions in the health care system should be based on evidence – and scientific research provides that evidence. Do the complexities of the German health care system ever limit what you can do as a researcher? The German health care system is structured so that accredited physicians, hospitals, and health insurers make decisions jointly. Naturally, all of these actors run up against limits – but those limits are exactly what shape the consensus that ultimately emerges. Change requires strong momentum: either especially robust evidence or clearly defined political goals. You and several of your colleagues serve on scientific bodies that advise policymakers at the highest level – for example, the federal government’s Health Finance Commission, which develops recommendations on financing the statutory health insurance funds. What has your experience with policymakers been like? Do they try to steer the process strongly? No, I have not seen any direct political interference so far. In the Health Finance Commission, too, our independence has always been respected. That said, we have always insisted on this independence. The secretariats support our work, but they do not intervene in the substance. At the same time, our influence ends once the reports and recommendations are complete. What is ultimately implemented is up to policymakers, who bring yet another perspective to these issues. At TUM, you founded the Munich Center for Health Economics and Policy, or M-CHEP, an alliance of researchers with the stated goal of improving health care systems and population health through research… We will celebrate the launch on March 20, and we are very glad that Judith Gerlacht, Bavarian State Minister for Health, Care and Prevention, will attend, among others. At M-CHEP, we bring together health economics expertise from across Bavaria to address key questions in health economics and health services research. Researchers from the TUM School of Medicine & Health, the TUM School of Management, and the TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology are represented. Across Bavaria, our network also includes renowned health economists from the University of Bayreuth, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the University of Augsburg, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU). Why was it important for you to establish a Bavaria-wide network? Collaboration simply achieves more than competition. Every group has its own strengths, its own access to data, and its own particular expertise. On top of that, our research is data-intensive and organizationally demanding – it is much easier to manage together. Quite honestly, it is also simply more fun to work as part of a strong group. It is especially important to us to encourage our research staff and doctoral researchers to collaborate across disciplines and universities. What does that collaboration look like in practice? Do you all sit around one big health economics table? We are spread across Bavaria, so much of the collaboration happens digitally. There are monthly meetings and two weekly hybrid seminars for early-career researchers. We also have topic-specific groups for each of our five focus areas: health systems design, health services research, the economics of population health, global health, and health care management. In addition, we are in close contact with our Scientific Advisory Board and our Expert Committee. What is the role of the Expert Committee? It includes practitioners from the health care sector – from health insurers, hospital management, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, and public research institutes. As I said, being close to practice is important to us. The Expert Committee also helps us prepare students and doctoral researchers specifically for the demands of the job market. Speaking of practice: you have also published policy briefs, short recommendations for healthcare policy from a scientific perspective. What is behind this? Research on health care delivery is part of our day-to-day work. Naturally, we want to make that work available to all potential users. The policy briefs are an offer to anyone interested – whether they work in politics or come from another background – to access scientifically grounded information.

First world map shows impact of the tidal pulse in coastal rivers

The order of the quantum world

Professor Pollmann, the physics of individual quantum particles is well understood today. Why does it become so much more complex once many particles begin to interact? Since the complexity of the equations increases exponentially with each additional quantum mechanical particle, they can rarely be solved with pen and paper. Even today’s supercomputers can only accurately simulate around 30 interacting particles — far too few to capture the underlying physics. When many such particles interact, sometimes you get new collective properties that cannot be derived from the behavior of individual particles. A classic example is water: a single molecule is neither liquid nor solid. Only when many molecules come together, ice crystals form or waves arise in the ocean. We’re seeing similar effects in the quantum world, where collective interactions give rise to new and often highly unusual states of matter that follow an order of their own. These include quantum liquids, where charge carriers carry only a fraction of the elementary charge; materials that conduct electricity without loss at low temperatures; and systems that form exotic topological phases. What exactly are these topological phases? A topological phase is a special state of matter where its most important properties are not determined by the microscopic arrangement of particles. A well-known analogy from geometry is that a coffee mug and a donut are considered equivalent in topology despite their different appearances, because each has exactly one hole. Similarly, certain properties of topological materials remain unchanged even when the system is distorted. In physical terms, this means that some materials can be exceptionally robust . For instance, electrical currents can flow along the edges of a topological material without being scattered by defects, impurities, or disorder. This robustness does not come from engineering perfection, it is based on fundamental mathematical principles.

150 Years of Electrical and Computer Engineering at TUM

Since then, electrical and computer engineering at TUM has evolved from the fundamentals of electricity through energy supply and automation to digital, networked, and intelligent systems. Today, research spans the entire spectrum of the field—from wearables that monitor our health to networked radar systems and quantum technology.

Hope for Preventing Stomach Cancer

Approximately 43 percent of the world’s population is infected with this bacterium. It can cause chronic inflammation of the stomach lining, lead to gastric ulcers, and is considered a key risk factor for stomach cancer. Standard therapies are primarily based on the antibiotic metronidazole. However, H. pylori is becoming increasingly resistant to it. As a result, ever higher doses and combinations with additional antibiotics are required. The team led by Prof. Stephan A. Sieber, Chair of Organic Chemistry II at the TUM School of Natural Sciences, examined the antibiotic’s mechanisms of action in detail. It was already known that metronidazole induces so-called “oxidative stress” in the bacterium, meaning chemical reactions that damage cellular components. The researchers have now discovered that metronidazole additionally targets two central protective proteins of H. pylori: an enzyme responsible for detoxifying harmful reactive oxygen species and a protein that repairs damaged proteins. The study’s first authors, Dr. Michaela Fiedler and doctoral researcher Marianne Pandler, both at the Chair of Organic Chemistry II, explain: “Based on our new fundamental insights, we developed chemically slightly modified variants of metronidazole, known as ether derivatives. This molecular optimization enables the drug to bind more effectively to its target proteins. As a result, H. pylori is less able to counteract oxidative stress and, in the best case, is eliminated.” In laboratory experiments, the researchers observed up to a 60-fold increase in efficacy against standard H. pylori strains, as well as strong activity against already resistant bacterial strains. At the same time, they found no increased toxicity of the modified compound toward human cells. In mice, the team was able to completely eradicate H. pylori infection using the new compound, already at a very low dose. Moreover, the gut microbiome of the mice was less affected than with current standard therapy. Prof. Stephan A. Sieber emphasizes: “We have developed a highly promising potential drug candidate to reduce the risk of stomach cancer. However, the results still need to be confirmed in clinical trials in humans. If successful, this would represent a genuine medical breakthrough.”

Games as learning and working environments

TUM Alliance for Security Research and the start-up Tytan featured on BR

The TUM Security and Defense Alliance, launched by the Technical University of Munich together with the University of the Bundeswehr Munich and numerous industry and technology partners, pools expertise from science, business and the start-up scene in order to strengthen Europe's security and defense capabilities in the long term. It strategically integrates key capabilities in the fields of aerospace, land, and naval forces, as well as cyberspace, and information operations. In its “mehr/wert” segment, BR covers the founding of the alliance and also introduces the startup TYTAN Technologies, which develops AI-powered defensive drones. The young company, founded by TUM graduates, is working with the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Bundeswehr, among others, to develop new defense systems against unmanned aerial vehicles. The BR report thus illustrates how TUM contributes to technological sovereignty and modern security research through new alliances and the promotion of spin-offs.

SAP supports TUM University Foundation with one million euros

TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann expressed his gratitude for the generous donation: "SAP is one of our closest industry partners. From individual research and education projects to entrepreneurial formats and co-location at the jointly used research center SAP Labs Munich on the TUM Campus Garching - the added value of this long-term, trust-based strategic collaboration between TUM and SAP is clearly manifest. I thank Thomas Saueressig and SAP for this generous donation." SAP Executive Board Member Thomas Saueressig emphasizes: "The collaboration between leading companies and academic pioneers has never been more important than it is today. SAP and TUM are demonstrating together how innovative strength and cutting-edge research can be effectively combined to jointly accelerate groundbreaking discoveries. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to TUM on its renewed designation as a University of Excellence."

Decades-old problem in classical geometry solved

To do this, they constructed two compact, self-contained, doughnut-shaped surfaces, known as tori, which have the same metric and mean curvature, even though they are structurally different on a global scale. Researchers had been searching in vain for such an example for decades. The metric describes the distances on the surface, that is, how far two points on the surface are from each other. The mean curvature indicates how strongly the surface curves outward or inward in space.

Search robot thinks for itself

The new robot from Prof. Angela Schoellig’s TUM Learning Systems and Robotics Lab looks like a broomstick on wheels with a camera mounted at the top. It is one of the first robots that not only integrates image understanding but also applies it to a clearly defined task. To find a pair of glasses misplaced in the kitchen, for example, the robot has to look around and build a three-dimensional image of the room. The camera initially provides two-dimensional images, but these pixels also contain depth information. This creates a spatial map of the environment that is accurate to the centimeter and is constantly updated. A laptop also provides the robot with information about which objects are visible in the image and what significance they have for humans. “We have taught the robot to understand its surroundings,” says Prof. Angela Schoellig. The head of the Robotics Lab at the TUM Chair of Safety, Performance and Reliability for Learning Systems aims to develop robots that can navigate any environment independently. Humanoid robots working in factories or robots in care settings in private homes require this newly developed basic understanding, which, as Schoellig explains, “is important for all robots that move in spaces that are constantly changing”. Internet knowledge translated into the robot’s language The robot therefore understands that a table or window sill can be used to briefly set down a pair of glasses, whereas a stovetop or a sink are not suitable for this purpose. “The language model captures the relationships between the objects and we convert this information into the robot’s language,” explains Prof. Schoellig. Two-digit numbers appear on the three-dimensional map of the environment, constantly recalculating the likelihood that the object being searched for is located there. According to the research results, the robot then searches the probable locations almost 30 per cent more efficiently than if it searched randomly throughout the room. Artificial intelligence is used in two ways: on the one hand in image recognition and on the other hand through the use of a language model. Another special capability of the robot: it remembers previous images and is able to compare them with new images of its surroundings. If a new object suddenly appears in the kitchen, it recognizes the change with a high degree of certainty (95 per cent) and marks these areas as “highly probable” search locations. Next step: searching behind cupboard doors In the next step, the TUM scientist and board member at the Munich Institute of Robotics and Machine Intelligence (TUM MIRMI) also wants to search for objects that are in a drawer or behind a door. To do this, however, the robot will not merely have to draw on knowledge from the internet but will also have to interact with its surroundings. Robotic arms and hands must open a cupboard and determine whether it opens upwards or sideways and how best to grasp the handle. This will enable the robot to search even in closed spaces such as cupboards or drawers.

TUM Recognized as University of Excellence for the Fourth Consecutive Time

TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann expressed his delight at this renewed major success in the federal and state Excellence Competition and extended his thanks to members of the TUM community: "The heartbeat of TUM is defined by the diverse talents of our university community - from curious students and ambitious staff to excellent professors, bold founders, and globally impactful alumni, fellows, partners, and friends. We are all united by the pursuit of excellence - not for excellence's own sake, but with the goal of taking responsibility for the well-being of humanity. TUM is more than a University of Excellence - it is an attitude." Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär offered her congratulations: "The Universities of Excellence are lighthouses of cutting-edge research in Germany - the evaluation results confirm this. They are and remain flagships of our academic landscape and frequently serve as models for other universities. They have not only increased their international visibility through excellent basic research, but have also achieved significant progress in applied research and technology transfer. They contribute substantially to the innovative strength and competitiveness of our country and thus to the success of the Hightech Agenda Germany. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the Technical University of Munich on this great achievement. It is a pioneer for other universities - with its outstanding transfer capabilities, a forward-looking personnel concept, and an international orientation across all activities of the university. This is, in short, an extraordinarily successful overall strategy. I am confident: TU Munich will continue to grow its worldwide reputation in the coming seven years as well." Bavaria's Minister of Science Markus Blume said: "Scientific excellence combined with responsibility for the defining questions of our time - the Technical University of Munich has defended its status as a University of Excellence since the very beginning of the funding program in an impressive manner. It demonstrates powerfully what excellence means at its core: Outstanding research and teaching that serve the people. This gives rise to a culture of innovation that connects progress with responsibility. A dynamic organization, state-of-the-art teaching, and impactful transfer make TU Munich a reference university for all of Europe. Heartfelt congratulations and sincere thanks to the researchers as well as the university leadership for their outstanding work and this consistently exceptional performance. TUM is an absolute flagship for Bavaria - for home and hightech."

TUM Receives "Engaged University" Certificate

At TUM, this commitment is reflected in remarkable diversity: more than 200 student clubs are active in sustainability, social causes, technological advancement, international exchange, entrepreneurship, and culture. Here, students test ideas, take on responsibility, and independently implement projects. Students who get involved outside of class develop skills that can only be taught to a limited extent in lecture halls: leadership, communication, project management, teamwork, and creative problem-solving under time pressure - abilities that are increasingly in demand in a complex and interconnected society.

Partners plan world’s largest training center for AI-powered robotics

The partners are jointly investing €17 million in the TUM RoboGym. NEURA Robotics is contributing the lion's share with eleven million euros, primarily to procure robots and maintain the hardware infrastructure. “In return, NEURA Robotics participates in our research,” says Prof. Achim Lilienthal. “The interaction between high-end robotics technology and cutting-edge academic research in artificial intelligence will give development a huge boost.” Lilienthal is the scientific coordinator of the new robotics hub “TUM RoboGym (powered by NEURA)” — a large-scale training facility where robots learn tasks from human demonstrations — and, together with Lorenzo Masia, initiated the new cooperation with MIRMI. The partners TUM MIRMI and NEURA Robotics have signed a cooperation agreement to establish the center. Humanoid robots are becoming part of everyday life TUM President Thomas F. Hofmann emphasizes: “Humanoid robots have long since left the realm of science fiction. In the near future, they will become an integral part of everyday life and support humans in many tasks. Together with NEURA Robotics, we at TUM aim to accelerate this development by advancing robot functionality while ensuring that humans and robots can live and work together safely.” David Reger, founder and CEO of NEURA Robotics, says: “The decisive competitive factor in intelligent robotics is no longer mechanics, but data. Those who have high-quality, realistic training data set the pace. We at NEURA Robotics contribute our strength by establishing robot gyms worldwide and connecting training data through our Neuraverse platform, creating scalable training infrastructures for physical AI. Together with TUM, we combine excellent research with entrepreneurial implementation. In this way, we are setting new standards in intelligent robotics and strengthening Germany and Europe’s technological leadership in this key future field.” Prof. Lorenzo Masia, Director of TUM RoboGym and Executive Director of TUM MIRMI, sees the cooperation as an opportunity to help shape the future of robotics worldwide: “European sovereignty is extremely important in times of geopolitical competition between East and West. With this research and training center, which is one of the largest in the world, we are providing our researchers and students with a unique infrastructure in Europe where they can experience, create and learn new approaches to robotics and AI, and become a solid core of European experts when they enter the job market.”

Targeted Shaking Stabilizes Exotic Quantum States

In a new study published in the journal Nature, the researchers show that unwanted heating can be drastically slowed down by randomly shaking a superconducting quantum computer with 78 qubits. Instead of adding energy through completely unstructured shaking, they use carefully designed patterns of random pulses that partially cancel each other out over time. By directly measuring quantum entanglement in the processor, the team was able to track the system's evolution over more than a thousand driving cycles - far beyond what today's classical computers could simulate. The results show that even randomness, when carefully engineered, can be used to control complex quantum systems and explore new states of matter. The quantum-theoretical predictions of the exotic systems now confirmed were developed during a research visit by then-doctoral student Hongzheng Zhao to the TUM School of Natural Sciences, where he worked with Prof. Johannes Knolle at his Professorship for Theory of Quantum Matter. Hongzheng Zhao has since become a professor at Peking University. Experimental confirmation was achieved by a team led by Prof. Heng Fan at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, using a state-of-the-art "Chuang-tzu 2.0" quantum chip with 78 quantum particles (qubits). The Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden and Imperial College London were also involved in the research.