Facts and Figures
Matheon is a Berlin-based research center for application-driven mathematics.
Since its founding in 2002,
Matheon has become an international trademark in the field of developing new methods for modelling,
simulation and optimization of real-world processes in key technologies.
Funding via Einstein Center for Mathematics Berlin ECMath
Matheon is a joint research center of the three Berlin universities (Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,
Technische Universität Berlin) and the mathematical research institutes WIAS (Weierstrass-Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics) and
ZIB (Zuse Institute Berlin).
Since June 2014, research at
Matheon has been supported by the Einstein Foundation Berlin via the Einstein Center for Mathematics Berlin
ECMath with annually 2,5 Mio. Euro. Further funding is generated via industrial projects and other third party funding.
Matheon was founded in 2002 as DFG-Research Center. The German Research Foundation (DFG) sponsored it over the maximum period of
twelve years with an annual budget of around 5-6 million Euro.
Current research
Currently, 223 scientists are working in 79 projects, financed by ECMath and other funding sources. (November 2017)
Their research focuses on the following application fields:
- Clinical Research and Health Care
- Metropolitan Infrastructure
- Optical Technologies
- Sustainable Energies
- Geometric Design and Visualization
- Education and Outreach
Mathematical methods from the fields of optimization and discrete mathematics, numerical analysis and scientific computing as well as applied and stochastic analysis are used and further developed.
Scientific outcome in short
The success of the
Matheon concept is well documented by
- More than 125 offers for professorships to Matheon researchers
- More than 200 PhD theses
- More than 2650 scientific publications from Matheon- or Matheon-related projects
- More than 130 scientific awards and honors for Matheon members
- More than 130 cooperation partners from industry and health care
- More than 1250 Guest researchers
- 11 Spin-off companies
- About 40 Software products for a broad spectrum of application fields
- 10 patents
- More than 60 events for the public
- 2007 Matheon was „Selected Landmark“ in the BMBF campaign „Germany – Land of ideas“
Further insight into
Matheon's scientific success stories can be gained via the scientific papers and in two special publications:
- The "Showcases" brochure with highlights presented for a broader public
- The book "Matheon - Mathematics for Key Technologies"
- Scientific papers can be found here.
Quality control within Matheon
A major factor for
Matheon's scientific success and its worldwide first-class reputation is the strong quality control implemented and sustained by
Matheon's
governing bodies. Every research project has to present its research plans as well as the achievements at the annual center days at which all projects are
evaluated according to a variety of criteria.
Besides the usual scientific criteria for the evaluation of basic research, such as publications in major scientific journals, invitations to plenary
lectures at international conferences, or scientific distinctions, also interdisciplinary cooperation and transfer into industry or other sciences as
well as outreach to the general public are taken into account.
Matheon as a pioneer in collaborative research
Since its founding, the Research Center
Matheon has changed the mathematical landscape - not only in the Berlin region but far beyond its geographical
and disciplinary boundaries. Today, the
Matheon concept of application-driven, technology-oriented mathematical research is recognized worldwide as an
effective model for organizing collaborative research in applied mathematics, and is being copied in many places, due to
- how it fosters both cooperation on and competition for the best ideas,
- how it evaluates projects in an internal science-driven process (see above),
- how it was able to bring together highly creative mathematicians from a wide range of mathematical subfields and institutions to work jointly on big industrial challenges, has influenced the creation of mathematical research centers the world over.
Matheon's academic cooperations
Over the past 15 years, more than 1250 predominantly international guest scientists have conducted their research at
Matheon.
Individual members as well as the participating institutions are involved in a number of regional, national and international cooperations.
In addition, there are institutional partnerships with internationally renowned research associations, which are similarly organized and have related research interests.
As of November 2017, there are cooperation agreements with:
- bcam (Basque Center for Applied Mathematics) in Bilbao,
- 4TU.AMI (Applied Mathematics Institute of the 4 Technical Universities of the Netherlands)
- ICM (Interdisciplinary Center for Mathematical and Computational Modelling of the Warsaw University)
In addition to collaborating at the level of research, all cooperation agreements include - involving industrial partners where possible - joint workshops,
the exchange of students and exchange visits by professors and young scientists.
The cooperation partners involved thus form a global network of excellence centers of comparable organizational structures in which globally recognized
experts from almost all mathematical fields are united. The centers involved are working on topics from industry and scientific application areas in
their respective local regions and in the mathematical areas where their respective scientific focus is placed.
Matheon as business partner
Matheon's ability to provide first-rate solutions across the whole range of research in application-driven mathematics has resulted in a large number
of collaborative projects and long-term partnerships not only with major enterprises, but also with small and medium-sized companies, including
hospitals and banks. Over the last 15 years,
Matheon has thus become a leading mathematical partner for science and industry, not only in Berlin,
but throughout Germany and indeed worldwide.
For more information, please have a look under
transfer.
A new generation of mathematicians
Long-term advancement of the role of mathematics in technological innovation obviously crucially depends on the successful training of the next
generation of researchers.
Matheon so far has continued to be an excellent fertilizer for the academic growth of young mathematicians.
One of the most important
Matheon-outputs, though, was the
education of a new generation of mathematicians who ignore the artificial boundaries
between pure and applied mathematics and who have understood that mathematics is not only one of the greatest intellectual achievements of mankind,
but also an extremely powerful and versatile tool that can contribute to almost every area of science, technology, economics and society.
Since 2002,
more than 125 offers for professorships were made to researchers who went through the "
Matheon school".
This new generation of professors is spreading the "
Matheon ideals". And an even larger number of former students and researchers,
who were employed in
Matheon projects and are now working in industry or elsewhere, are carrying the
Matheon approach to the solution of
real-world problems to the world outside academia, making the road to the employment of mathematics in industry much shorter and faster.
Education
The foundations for the interest in science and technology have to be laid in school as early as possible and have to be supported during
the whole education chain from kindergarten up to PhD. This is why
Matheon organizes various events for pupils, teachers and the interested public.
Further details can be found in the
"School" section of the website.
