Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is a higher education and research organisation with about 8000 employees, 18,500 students, and a total annual budget of about 700 million Euros. KIT was established on 01/10/2009 as merger of Universität Karlsruhe (founded in 1825), one of Germany’s leading research universities, and Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH (founded in 1956), one of the largest national research centres in the Helmholtz Association.

Higher education, research, and innovation are the three pillars of KIT’s activities. In establishing innovative research structures, KIT is pursuing joint strategies and visions. KIT’s research profile is characterised by a strong focus on energy technology, nanotechnology and materials research, elementary particle and astro-particle physics as well as climate and environmental research. It has significant competencies in the fields of information and communication technologies, mobility systems, optics and photonics, and the inter-relations of humans and technology. KIT builds on the extensive experience its predecessors have gained in EC-funded research from more than 1000 projects up to now.