Kick-off for a new data and AI centre in Berlin
The management of ZIB and HZB, together with the Senator for Science, Dr Ina Czyborra, pressed the symbolic start button. © HZB
At the kick-off event for the set-up of a new data centre in Berlin - from left to right: Prof. Sebastian Pokutta (Vice-President of ZIB), Dr Kathrin Rost (Head of Administration at ZIB), Prof. Christof Schütte (President of ZIB), Dr Ina Cyborra (Senator), Saskia Vormfelde (Commercial Director of HZB), Prof. Bernd Rech (Scientific Director of HZB). © HZB
By establishing a new data and AI centre in Berlin, the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) are laying the foundations for a scalable and sovereign data infrastructure in the capital. The project strengthens the scientific capabilities of Berlin’s research community whilst making an important contribution to research security, resilience and technological independence.
Whether in materials, energy or health research, ever-increasing volumes of data must be processed quickly, reliably and securely. At the same time, the requirements for the protection of sensitive research data and for secure IT infrastructures are rising.
HZB and ZIB are now intensifying their collaboration and have signed an agreement to establish a data centre. Over the coming years, a regionally anchored, competitive infrastructure will be built across institutional boundaries to strengthen data-driven research in Berlin. The partners announced this at the kick-off event on 27 March 2026 in Berlin-Adlershof.
The data centre will be built in several stages and adapted to the specific needs of Berlin’s scientific community over the coming years. The plan is to implement HPC- and AI-optimised technologies that integrate high-performance computing (HPC), data management and AI applications. At the same time, these areas should be as flexible as possible so that they can be used in a variety of applications.
In the first phase of development (from 2026/2027), the infrastructure at the ZIB in Berlin-Dahlem will be consolidated and operated on behalf of the partners. In parallel, a new operational site with expanded hardware will be set up at the HZB Berlin-Adlershof site. In a second phase (from 2029/2030), additional computing capacities are planned, depending on the further needs of the scientific community.
A particular focus of the project is on sustainability: components such as computers, storage, networking and cooling will be selected with sustainability and operational reliability in mind. There are also plans to have local energy suppliers utilise the waste heat generated by the data centre.
The Senator for Science, Health and Care, Dr Ina Czyborra, said: “With the new data centre, two strong partners are creating the digital power infrastructure that modern cutting-edge research needs today. In materials, health and climate research in particular, data usage and processing are essential and of ever-increasing importance. The data centre meets this growing demand whilst simultaneously strengthening the technological independence and resilience of our research hub. The approach taken by HZB and ZIB to create synergies by sharing resources is not only economically sound, but also a further example of Berlin’s research policy in action. Innovations such as these are driving us forward decisively in AI and data-intensive research – and strengthening our position in the international competition for the brightest minds.”
“The new Data, Compute and AI Centre is closely linked to the Zuse Institute Berlin’s vision of further developing modelling, AI and high-performance computing as the foundation of modern science. Here, a collaborative infrastructure for data-intensive cutting-edge research is being established, one that relies on powerful, flexible and secure operating models. It represents a strategic investment in Berlin’s scientific excellence,” explained the President of the ZIB, Professor Christof Schütte.
“Together with the ZIB, we are laying the foundations for the next generation of data-driven materials science. High-performance computing and AI-supported methods open up new avenues for predicting material properties and significantly accelerating innovation. The collaboration also strengthens the IT infrastructure at our BESSY II light source and paves the way for our planned successor source, BESSY III,” added HZB’s Scientific Director, Professor Bernd Rech.
- CIGS-perovskite tandem cell achieves record efficiency of 25.5 %A Berlin-based team from HZB and Center for the Science of Materials Berlin (CSMB) at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin has set a new record for a tandem solar cell. Using a combination of a CIGS semiconductor layer and perovskite, along with several optimised intermediate layers, they were able to convert 25.5% of sunlight into electrical energy. The previous record for this combination of materials and this size of cell stood at 24.6%. The new record has been certified and is visible in the prestigious Solar Cell Efficiency Tables (the "Green Tables"), which serve as the definitive ledger for the global photovoltaic community.
- Disorder creates new properties in compound semiconductorsAn international research team has demonstrated that the intrinsic disorder of the compound semiconductor CuInSnS₄ can be exploited to influence its optical properties. While the atomic vibrations also sense the local disorder, their response is averaged over many different local environments and therefore appear isotropic, as expected for a cubic crystal. In contrast, the optical excitations, known as excitons, are much more sensitive to the local arrangement of atoms. Surprisingly, they show a direction-dependent optical response even though the average crystal structure is cubic. These findings shed new light on the relationship between disorder and material properties, opening up new options for targeted 'disorder engineering' in optoelectronic and photocatalytic devices.
- Perovskite solar cells: Predictions of long-term stabilityReliable statements about the long-term stability of perovskite solar cells are still difficult to make. However, a new study by Dr Carolin Ulbrich’s team, published in the renowned journal Joule, highlights which methods are useful for this purpose and identifies areas where further research is needed.