About us

The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH), with facilities in Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken, Bremen, and a project office in Berlin, is the country's leading research center in the area of innovative software technology for commercial application.

In the international scientific community, DFKI is recognized as one of the most important „Centers of Excellence“ in the world for its proven ability to rapidly bring leading edge research to commercially relevant application solutions. DFKI was founded in 1988 as a nonprofit organization by several renowned German IT companies and two research facilities. Since then, DFKI GmbH has established a reputation for proactive and customer oriented work and is known both nationally and internationally as a competent and reliable partner for commercial innovation.

Because of the increasingly short cycles of innovation in the field of information technology, the lines between research, application-related development, and conversion to products are becoming blurred. This is why DFKI projects typically include the entire spectrum from basic application-based research to market- and customer-oriented development of product functions.

DFKI GmbH is managed by Professor Wolfgang Wahlster (Chairman and CEO) and Dr. Walter G. Olthoff (CFO).

The official opening of the DFKI project office in Berlin on July 9, 2007 signals the further expansion of existing partnerships within Berlin's research community and the implementation of innovative solutions with new partners in industry.

At the DFKI competence centers, where the focus is on technological and expert know-how, the chief aim is the management of research problems that transcend the individual labs.

Innovation you can touch: the latest innovative technologies are tested, evaluated, and demonstrated in the "Living Labs":

Innovative Retail Laboratory

Robotics Exploration Laboratory
SmartFactory Laboratory
Virtual Office Laboratory
Bremen Ambient Assisted Living Laboratory - BAALL

The purpose of the DFKI Transfer Center is to make the scientific findings of DFKI available to commercial applications. With an overall annual budget in 2008 of more than € 27 million, the previous year’s record results of € 23 million were surpassed and once again a positive annual net profit was reported.

Currently, DFKI has 372 employees and 311 student assistants. The circle of DFKI industrial partners comprises among others Daimler AG, Deutsche Telekom AG, SAP AG, IDS Scheer AG, Empolis GmbH, Microsoft Deutschland GmbH, Deutsche Post AG, BMW AG Deutsche Messe AG, EADS Astrium GmbH and Ricoh Ltd. In 2009, the circle has been expanded by HARTING KGaA and Intel Corp.

All work is organized under projects that have a clear objective and are scheduled to last for a specific period of time. This leads, among other things, to patented solutions, prototypes, or new or im proved product functions. At the present time, there are more than 110 ongoing projects. Project progress is checked once a year by an independent, international group of respected experts.

In addition to the BMBF and EU grants for large, joint research projects substantial contracts from business enterprises could also be acquired. The successful transfer of DFKI research results to functional products is continuing.

The DFKI model of a non-profit Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) was positively received at numerous presentations and is often referenced as the recommended structure. December 2004 marked the 5-year review of DFKI by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The evaluation is complete and the results are positive. There is even an effort to incorporate the PPP organizational structure into the Federal Grant Handbook and the text of relevant laws.

DFKI has membership rights in the Center for the Evaluation of Languages and Technologies (CELCT), based in Trento, in Yocoy Technologies GmbH (Berlin), and in SemVox GmbH (Saarbrücken).