This decision by the Excellence Commission, consisting of international researchers and the federal and state science ministers, was announced late this afternoon in Bonn. Funding for the new phase of the Excellence Initiative will start at the beginning of 2026.
With this outstanding result, the University of Bonn is consolidating its role as a leading research university in the competition: it was the only university in Germany to be successful with six Clusters of Excellence back in 2018 and was awarded the status of a University of Excellence in 2019. Since then, it has continuously ranked among the strongest research universities in Europe and the world.
Cluster of Excellence "PhenoRob"
PhenoRob stands for a sustainable and technology-driven transformation of agriculture – an issue of global importance and high relevance for Germany. The Cluster of Excellence focuses on developing innovative and sustainable cropping systems as well as new technologies, such as robotics, artificial intelligence and sensor-based phenotyping, for the resource-efficient production of crops. Interdisciplinary teams are researching new approaches to reduce the environmental impact, exploit automation potential in the field, and identify forward-looking solutions for agricultural systems in Germany.
Embedded within the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences at the University of Bonn, PhenoRob is Germany’s only Cluster of Excellence in the field of Agriculture 4.0. Since the first funding period, it has been internationally visible as a center of excellent research in robotics and phenotyping for sustainable crop production. It has delivered significant contributions toward sustainable agriculture – also through the successful spin-off of start-up companies.
Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Cyrill Stachniss, Photogrammetry and Robotics, University of Bonn
Prof. Dr. Heiner Kuhlmann, Geodesy, University of Bonn
Institutions involved:
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Website:
https://www.phenorob.de/1
... to press release of the University of Bonn: