Unit NRW
Established on April 1st, 2026
Unit Mission
The goal of the ELLIS Unit NRW is to establish a unified and world-class ecosystem for machine learning research in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). By connecting the state’s leading AI institutes, we aim to create one of Europe’s most comprehensive hubs for open, trustworthy, and high-impact AI research.
Participating Institutions
Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
University of Cologne
LAION
OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts (TH OWL)
RWTH Center for Artificial Intelligence
University Hospital Aachen
University Hospital Essen
University of Siegen
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU)
LAION
OWL University of Applied Sciences and Arts (TH OWL)
Bielefeld University
TU Dortmund University (TU Dortmund)
RWTH Aachen University
Paderborn University
Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)
Ruhr University Bochum (RUB)
University of Bonn
Research Agenda
- Advancing open-source foundation models with open access to data, models, and source code.
- Advancing the trustworthiness of foundation models for rare events like extremes and in domains such as healthcare with a focus on underrepresented groups like persons with special needs.
- Adapting foundation models for embodied AI with a focus on applications in home-care and sustainable agriculture.
