Tuesday, 03-03-2026

University

University of Lübeck receives €29 million for large AI computing centre

New powerful and highly secure infrastructure for AI research and highly sensitive medical data

The research and development of secure and trustworthy artificial intelligence in medicine is an important focus of the University of Lübeck. The university is now receiving €29 million from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to set up a large computing centre for artificial intelligence as part of two AnoMed projects. The project will create a powerful and secure AI computing centre on campus, which will be one of the largest facilities of its kind in the public research environment in northern Germany. The aim is to create optimal conditions for cutting-edge research on secure, very large AI models and to enable the secure processing of sensitive research data. For highly sensitive medical data in particular, the AnoMed AI computing centre will create an infrastructure that combines powerful AI research with the highest security standards, even in the quantum age.

The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space has been supporting the University of Lübeck in this important area for several years. With Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär's Hightech Agenda, the current funding in the field of AI and medicine in Lübeck is reaching a new dimension. The goal of the Hightech Agenda, which is to make Germany competitive in important fields of technology, is being implemented here in an exemplary manner and at a rapid pace.

“In the coming years, we expect significant improvements for patients through the support of treatment with artificial intelligence. The handling of this sensitive data must be secure and trustworthy. Professor Mohammadi and his team are doing pioneering work here in the AnoMed project to make this use of data trustworthy in the first place. The powerful AI computing cluster will greatly advance this work, and this impressive infrastructure is of course also open to other researchers. This funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is a big step for us. I am very pleased," emphasises Prof. Dr. Helge Braun, President of the University of Lübeck.

The AI computing centre is to be set up and put into operation this year on an area of 400 m². For this purpose, an independent infrastructure with a newly built energy and cooling supply as well as secure computing and data areas will be implemented. Networked high-performance clusters with the latest GPU technology are expected to achieve a total computing power of over 3,000 petaFlops for training AI models. This will create the technical conditions for demanding AI applications in science and research. A central aspect is the development of a protection and service concept to enable the secure processing of highly sensitive data. In particular, the project is dedicated to research questions concerning the secure use of sensitive data and the further development of modern anonymisation methods. With the AnoMed AI computing centre, the university is strengthening its profile areas in IT security, AI research and medicine, and creating an infrastructure that combines highly scaled computing power with the highest security standards for sensitive health data.

“With AnoMed, we are reaching a new level in research for secure AI,” says Prof. Dr. Esfandiar Mohammadi, scientific director of the AnoMed competence cluster and head of the Privacy & Security working group at the Institute for IT Security at the University of Lübeck. He adds: "The new infrastructure enables us to develop and analyse very large AI models under high security requirements. At the same time, we can systematically address key research questions on the secure use of sensitive medical data and the further development of modern anonymisation methods." He goes on to emphasise: “Since 2022, we have been conducting research into secure data usage for medical applications with the AnoMed I and II projects, for which we have already received a total of €17 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. With the current approval of the AI computing centre, this area of research will receive a total of €46 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. I am very pleased about this.”

“We are building a highly scalable and secure infrastructure in which powerful GPU clusters are closely networked. Only this networking makes it possible to train very large AI models and reliably provide the correspondingly high computing power,” says Christopher Blochwitz, group leader for scientific computing at the ITSC at the University of Lübeck. Helge Illig, Head of ITSC at the University of Lübeck, adds: “The construction of the new AI data centre requires stable energy and cooling capacities. This will meet the high demands of modern AI infrastructure and, in particular, the protection of sensitive data.” Prof. Dr. Mladen Berekovic, Head of Scientific Computing of the ITSC at the University of Lübeck, highlights the performance and security architecture of the AI data centre and explains: "Our own protection and service concept enables us to process highly sensitive data securely." 

The computing capacities are also available to other scientific research groups and will also be used for training formats and hackathons. International competitions and use in international conferences are planned via the AnoMed competition platform in order to accelerate technology transfer. The project thus strengthens the digital infrastructure and innovation potential in Schleswig-Holstein and Germany.

The state of Schleswig-Holstein is participating in the project by supporting and financing the operation of the infrastructure, thus enabling the state's universities and research institutions to participate.

"The widespread use of artificial intelligence methods is a key success factor for competitiveness in Schleswig-Holstein. This requires powerful and secure AI infrastructures as a fundamental prerequisite. With the AnoMed AI Computing and Service Centre at the University of Lübeck, we are creating reliable structures from which the entire higher education and research landscape of the state can benefit equally. With the establishment of the centre, we are taking the next step towards consolidating our pioneering position as a digital region of the future," emphasises Dirk Schrödter, Minister for Digitalisation and Head of the State Chancellery of Schleswig-Holstein.

The University of Lübeck is responsible for developing the site and is carrying out the preparatory construction work with the Schleswig-Holstein Building Management (GMSH).

The project will run from 1 March 2026 to 31 December 2027.