# Cluster of Excellence

**Source**: https://physics-of-life.tu-dresden.de/cluster-of-excellence
**Parent**: https://physics-of-life.tu-dresden.de/

The Clusters of Excellence are part of the **German Excellence Strategy,** implemented by the DFG and the German Council of Science, with two funding lines: The Clusters of Excellence and the Excellence Universities.

> The aim of the Excellence Strategy is to strengthen Germany’s position as an outstanding place for research in the long term and further improve its international competitiveness. It continues the development of German universities successfully begun with the Excellence Initiative by supporting research of the highest standard, enhancing research profiles, and facilitating cooperation in the research system.
>
> [DFG – Excellence Strategy](https://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/excellence_strategy/index.html)

On September 27th 2018, the Excellence Commission, consisting of the international Committee of Experts and the federal and state government ministers for research, selected 57 Clusters of Excellence to be funded for seven years. Following this period, PoL was officially **renewed as a Cluster of Excellence** by the DFG for continued funding from 2026-2032! Learn more in the [TUD press release](https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/newsportal/news/herausragender-erfolg-tu-dresden-ueberzeugt-mit-fuenf-exzellenzclustern).

## The Clusters of Excellence at TU Dresden

TU Dresden receives project-based funding in **five** internationally competitive research fields:

- PoL – Physics of Life
- [**CeTI** – Center for Tactile Internet](https://ceti.one/)
- [**ct.qmat** – Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter](https://www.ctqmat.de/) (a joint cluster with the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg)
- [**CARE** – Climate-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Construction](https://www.tu-dresden.de/care) (a joint cluster with RWTH Aachen)\*
- [**REC2 –** Responsible Electronics in the Climate-Change Era](https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/profil/exzellenz/exzellenzcluster/rec2)\*

\*New Clusters from 2026 onwards

## Facts & Links

- Physics of Life is one of [70 Clusters of Excellence](https://www.dfg.de/en/research-funding/funding-initiative/excellence-strategy), funded by the DFG from 2026 onwards for 7 years.
- TU Dresden is one of [11 Excellence Universities](https://www.dfg.de/en/research-funding/funding-initiative/excellence-strategy/programme-exc-exu#exu) in Germany

TU Dresden holds the [title as Excellence University](https://tu-dresden.de/tu-dresden/profil/exzellenz) since 2012. In the past, the following initiatives were funded via the Excellence Initiative:

- [DIGS-BB – Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering](https://www.digs-bb.de)
- [CRTD – Center for Regenerative Therapies](https://tu-dresden.de/cmcb/crtd)
- [cfaed – Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden](https://cfaed.tu-dresden.de/)

## Podcast

PoL has featured on [Exzellent erklärt – Spitzenforschung für alle (Excellently explained – cutting-edge research for everyone)](https://exzellent-erklaert.podigee.io/) – The science podcast regularly reports from the 57 Clusters of Excellence (in German).

Each month, the audience can expect insights into the interdisciplinary work of a research network. The scientists of the Clusters of Excellence talk with podcaster Larissa Vassilian about how cutting-edge research aims to find scientifically based answers to relevant issues of our time.