Partnership between KAUST and TUM just beginning
In 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Technische Universität München (TUM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on research. Since that time, the Universities have been conducting research on four projects in the fields of chemistry, computer science and mathematics, but this research is just the beginning of what is to come.
“We have a mission, which is to serve society. And we have to contribute as a technical university to advance the innovation society of tomorrow,” said Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. W.A. Herrmann, President of TUM. “For this reason, we have to be scientific to the utmost extent; we have to be entrepreneurial to take our own faith in our hands – not only with companies or with spinoffs.”
Prof. Herrmann visited KAUST on March 25 and gave a lecture on what is to come between the young, yet highly successful KAUST-TUM collaboration in the areas of high performance computing and catalytic chemistry – and what we need to do together to be successful in this partnership. He told the group that in order to contribute to tomorrow’s society we need an entrepreneurial university. “An entrepreneurial university is a behavior, an attitude, and according to which we orient our activities,” he said.
He also said we need to create and apply new methods to solve today’s scientific problems. And because these problems are getting more and more complex, we need an interdisciplinary approach, which is where the partnership between KAUST and TUM becomes essential.
“Convergent research is an old thing that we have implementing over the last decade with these more complex scientific, engineering and technological challenges,” he said.
One of the ways to gain this continuity, according to Prof. Herrmann, is to cultivate a trustful relationship. “Good science needs continuity. You need to know that you can rely on each other. This is the most important basis of any fruitful collaboration,” he said.
Prof. Herrmann went on to say that there are three things that make the KAUST-TUM partnership a successful collaboration. First of all, it is a strong partnership. Secondly, the two institutes have expertise that compliments each other. And thirdly, the working conditions and results when combined are much better together than if either one of the institutions was to do the same research in isolation.
“It’s only a few years that we have been together. It’s a good result, I would say,” Prof. Herrmann said. “I would like to thank everybody. The professors on the front line and also the students who decided to participate in this new joint effort. “
The partnership will continue to expand with the growth of the joint KAUST-TUM PhD program and with ongoing collaborative research in the areas of catalysis, computational science and engineering. Work between the KAUST’s Clean Combustion Research Center and TUM’s Catalysis team is also scheduled to begin the summer of 2014.
The Numerical Mathematics Group