Cluster of Excellence CARE looks back on a successful year 2025

𝗪𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗘 - The Cluster of Excellence of TU Dresden and RWTH Aachen University combines the expertise of long-standing top partners in building materials research. The aim is to achieve a paradigm shift in the construction sector through innovative building materials, design principles and manufacturing technologies. They enable climate-friendly and sustainable construction methods over the entire life cycle of buildings.

As of 01.01.2026, CARE will be funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) as part of the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State governments. Highlights were already happening in 2025:

Care attracts federal research center
On the way to the CARE's research strength was a decisive argument on the way to establishing a Federal Research Center for Transformation Processes in the Construction Sector (BFZ) in Bautzen. The BFZ is all about the rapid and reliable transfer of basic research into practice. This is where synergies, value chains and thus training and jobs of the future are created.

The vision of sustainable construction – CARE becomes one of 25 new clusters of excellence in Germany
The review panel of the German Research Foundation (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German Science and Humanities Council underlines the need for research in the construction sector by selecting CARE for funding as a Cluster of Excellence in a highly competitive process. A step towards a climate-neutral construction sector - one of the biggest levers to climate protection.


North Rhine-Westphalia Minister of Science visits Institute for Solid Construction at RWTH Aachen University
Minister Ina Brandes informed herself about modern research work and laboratory infrastructures of the Cluster of Excellence CARE. The focus was on 2D FOS technology - a fiber optic measurement method for detecting cracks in bridge structures long before they become macroscopically visible. For more safety, efficiency and sustainability in the maintenance of the nationwide bridge infrastructure.

Saxony's Minister of Science invites to get-together
CARE accepted the invitation of Minister Sebastian Gemkow (Saxon State Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism) to celebrate the success of the Excellence Strategy in Dresden. Together with professors Edeltraud Günther and Christina Scheffler and Professor Viktor Mechtcherine, the cluster was honored for its scientific excellence in the Free State of Saxony.

Foundation stone laid in the digital fabrication laboratory
CARE celebrated the laying of the foundation stone for the Laboratory for Digital Fabrication at RWTH Aachen University. Martin Claßen (Head of the Institute of Concrete Structures, RWTH Aachen University) and Sven Klinkel (Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, RWTH Aachen University) gave an inspiring outlook on the digital future of manufacturing.