The Helmholtz Incubator

The opportunities and challenges arising from the developments in  information & data sciences  are of fundamental importance for all research programs within the research fields of the Helmholtz Association. Therefore the “Helmholtz Incubator Information & Data Science” was launched in 2016, a think tank of 40 high-ranking information and data science experts from all centers, who together represent an enormous breadth of expertise. The Helmholtz Incubator Information & Data Science puts the Helmholtz digitization strategy into concrete terms, regularly brings creative minds from across the community into interaction, creates innovative, interdisciplinary networks, and identifies topic areas and technologies of the future – across research fields and centers.

Within the framework of the incubator activities, five thematic areas have been identified that are of particular strategic importance for all research centers. For this reason, five incubator platforms were created to form a living network from which new solutions for the challenges of cutting-edge research are constantly emerging - across research areas and centers. HMC is one of these five platforms and addresses all relevant topics related to scientific metadata.

The activities of the incubator together form the Helmholtz Incubator Framework for Information and Data Science. The framework bundles projects and initiatives and develops innovative approaches in information technology and processing. These challenges are implemented at all structural levels in centers, research fields and research programs of the Helmholtz Association. The goal of this initiative is to generate new knowledge with the help of Helmholtz data and to strengthen the scientific fields with new technologies in order to bring the ambitious digitization strategy of the Helmholtz Association to life.