University of Tübingen: University of Tübingen and Boehringer Ingelheim join forces
The University of Tübingen and Boehringer Ingelheim are launching an AI and data science scholarship program for top talent from around the world. Three to five scholarships are awarded each year for a period of up to three years. The aim is to have a total of nine to fifteen scholarships in the program after five years.
The partners will define research topics at the interface of health and AI applications, which will be selected by a joint steering committee. The first fellowships have been published on the university ‘s website and interested postdocs can now submit their applications.
The partnership is based on the shared vision of Boehringer Ingelheim and the University of Tübingen to use the power of AI and data science to improve human and animal health. The aim is to improve the lives of patients through medical advances, shorten treatment times and further increase patient orientation
“The partnership with the University of Tübingen will strengthen our research in the field of AI and data science and give us the opportunity to recruit and develop the next generation of AI specialists and data scientists. These talents will be critical to achieving our goal of accelerating the development of novel treatments and positively impacting the lives of millions of people and animals,” said Jan Nygaard Jensen, Global Head of Computational Biology and Digital Sciences at Boehringer Ingelheim.
“Only by fully exploiting the potential of new digital technologies can we achieve our goal of making the latest healthcare solutions accessible to people around the world. For this reason, digital innovations at Boehringer Ingelheim extend to all areas and are part of a uniform strategy for optimal use of the opportunities that arise. We are very much looking forward to working with the Fellows to further expand our leadership position in the development of next-generation solutions in the fields of AI and data science,” adds Brigitte Fuhr, Head of Central Data Science at Boehringer Ingelheim.
“This collaboration with a research-oriented biopharmaceutical company like Boehringer Ingelheim is a partnership of mutual interest and could pave the way for further collaborations,” says Professor Dr. Peter Grathwohl, Vice President for Research and Innovation at the University of Tübingen. “The university is establishing itself here another interface between basic research and practical application. In addition, she sharpens her profile in a research area of increasing importance: the use of AI in medicine and life sciences”.
“In particular, the combination of AI with relevant health or pharmaceutical data offers great potential for a significant improvement in the well-being of many people,” explains Nico Pfeifer, Professor of Methods in Medical Informatics at the University of Tübingen and project manager. “Methodology research is able to identify problems in healthcare that require new AI approaches and to develop tailor-made solutions for them.”
The fellows will conduct research on site at the University of Tübingen. You benefit from the university’s extensive experience, rapid growth in the field of AI and data science, and highly regarded medical research there. They also have the opportunity to work closely with Boehringer Ingelheim scientists, specialists in various fields and executives both locally and globally. In addition, it is planned that Fellows will be invited to visit the company’s sites as well as to network events and annual symposiums.
It is important to the University of Tübingen to put innovations and research results into practice and to be in close contact with business and society. In the field of artificial intelligence, the university is a founding member of the Cyber Valley research network and conducts applied basic research in many different collaborations. The focus is on applications for science itself – for example in the Cluster of Excellence “Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science” – but also on the life sciences and medicine as well as on ethical aspects.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s digital strategy aims to create a leading data science ecosystem. To this end, cooperations with first-class research institutions in this field are to be concluded, talents are to be promoted or further developed and partnerships with data initiatives worldwide are to be entered into. This enables the creation of a comprehensive global database of genomic and patient data. The company cooperates with innovative digital start-ups along the entire value chain and invests in digital pioneers through its own venture fund BIVF.
The cooperation with the University of Tübingen strengthens Boehringer Ingelheim’s partnerships in the field of AI and data science at many innovation locations in Europe, the USA and Asia. A similar fellowship program was established last year between Yale University and the company’s research and development facility in Ridgefield.