Newsletter: September 2017

In a few years, two out of three people in the world will have taken up residence in cities, consuming far more energy and resources than cities can provide. Ten German research networks have set out to turn our cities in viable, resilient and sustainable living areas. Supported by BMBF, about 25 outstanding German urban researchers have now teamed up with international experts to build the City of Tomorrow together. In groundbreaking projects in China, Colombia, India, Vietnam, and the USA they put their latest digital technologies and strategies to the test.

Up till now, the stunning floating houses developed by the German scientists of Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg have been popular with well-off individualists who like the idea of living self-sufficiently by supplying their own water and energy.  Now a German-Vietnamese research network of the BMBF´s campaign “Shaping the Future – Building the City of Tomorrow” is looking into adapting the German concept to Vietnamese traditions. Its aim is to offer smart, sustainable and affordable homes for thousands of Vietnamese in a country at high risk of sea level rises.

Last year, many millions of Chinese fulfilled their dream of owning their own car. But their driving experience is hampered by congested roads in the metropolises. German researchers of the DLR Institute of Transportation Systems were able to demonstrate in the megacity Huainan how their digital tools can be used to prevent traffic jams and accidents and to significantly reduce air pollution. They are now offering to get traffic moving again in other cities in China.

Doing a PhD in Germany is an excellent idea – for all kinds of different reasons. It is hardly surprising then that no other country in Europe has more doctoral students. A German PhD degree is internationally renowned, the country has world class research facilities and numerous funding options are available to doctoral students from abroad. And the icing on the cake is that Germany offers a high quality of life.

That’s how many suns would be needed to shine as brightly as the world’s largest artificial sun at the Institute of Solar Research in Jülich. The idea is for researchers to use this enormous light source to develop technologies for solar hydrogen.

Breathe in deeply, and then out again! That’s how simple a test for lung cancer might soon be. Researchers from Bad Nauheim have developed a new early detection method that analyses the air we exhale.