TU Braunschweig coordinates joint project on research digitisation in Lower Saxony €24 million for digital research space

As part of the umbrella initiative Hochschule.digital Niedersachsen, Technische Universität Braunschweig, together with the Georg August University of Göttingen, is coordinating a Lower Saxony-wide project on the digitisation of scientific infrastructures. The umbrella initiative is a joint venture between the Lower Saxony State University Conference, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture and the Volkswagen Foundation, to which all 20 state-run universities in Lower Saxony belong. The joint project on research digitisation is being funded with €24 million. A total of 14 universities are participating in the joint project. The main objectives are to strengthen the IT infrastructure for research by procuring three high-performance computers (HPC) and setting up science support teams that will assist scientists at universities in Lower Saxony in the fields of research software engineering, AI, HPC applications and other digital technologies.

Over the next five years, the Lower Saxony Digital Science Support Space (DS3) project will sustainably strengthen and expand the digital research infrastructure in Lower Saxony. It aims to pool technical and human resources to enable cross-location collaboration, strengthen research teams and drive innovation.

Survey shows need for action

A state-wide survey of universities in Lower Saxony in November 2023 revealed that the performance of IT-based research infrastructures is currently below average compared to other federal states and internationally. The provision of HPC capacities was also only rated as satisfactory to a limited extent. There is also a lack of an overarching concept that enables researchers to work effectively with high-performance computers. Furthermore, not every working group is able to develop research software – especially software suitable for HPC – independently and sustainably.

Four key measures in the DS3 project

• Coordination office: A central contact point will be set up at TU Braunschweig (organisation of the science support teams) and the University of Göttingen (coordination of the HPC systems). They will network all parts of the project, integrate the project into the umbrella initiative Hochschule.digital Niedersachsen, bundle results and organise a state-wide information and training programme.
• Science support teams: Six specialised teams at the universities in Braunschweig, Clausthal, Göttingen, Hanover, Oldenburg and Osnabrück will support researchers in the future, among other things, in the development of HPC-capable research software. There are also plans to establish a virtual competence centre for ‘Sustainable Research Software Engineering’ based on international models and using innovative AI-supported tools such as GitHub Copilot, Qodo and Open Interpreter.
• New HPC systems: Three additional TIER 3 high-performance computers will be installed at TU Braunschweig, the University of Göttingen and Leibniz University Hannover. The systems will be available to all universities in Lower Saxony on a 50 per cent basis – especially those that do not yet have their own HPC resources or operating expertise.
• Contact points for user support: To support researchers in using the new IT services, local contact points are being set up at universities that are not involved in the Science Support Teams or TIER-3 procurement. They serve as an interface to the state-wide offerings and ensure the exchange of information on needs and developments.

The DS3 project will create a previously lacking, structured link to federal and state-wide digitisation initiatives. This will position Lower Saxony as a forward-looking competitor in the race for modern, high-performance scientific infrastructure

Project data:

The joint project ‘Lower Saxony Digital Science Support Space DS3’ will be funded by the Volkswagen Foundation for five years (1 July 2025 to 30 June 2030) with a total of around €24 million (of which around €5.9 million will go to TU Braunschweig). In addition to Technische Universität Braunschweig and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (both project management), the project partners are: Clausthal University of Technology, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Göttingen University Medical Centre, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover Medical School, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover University of Applied Sciences and Arts, University of Hildesheim, HAWK Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Osnabrück University and Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences.