NFDI4Ing – National Research Data Infrastructure for Engineering Sciences

• Subject Area: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering ; Construction Engineering and Architecture ; Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Materials Science and Engineering ; Thermal Engineering/Process Engineering
• Term: since 2020
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442146713

NFDI4Ing brings together the engineering communities and fosters the management of engineering research data. The consortium represents engineers from all walks of the profession. It offers a unique method-oriented and user-centred approach in order to make engineering research data FAIR – findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-usable. NFDI4Ing has been founded in 2017. The consortium has actively engaged engineers across all five engineering research areas of the DFG classification. Leading figures have teamed up with experienced infrastructure providers. As one important step, NFDI4Ing has taken on the task of structuring the wealth of concrete needs in research data management. A broad consensus on typical methods and workflows in engineering research has been established: The archetypes. So far, seven archetypes are harmonising the methodological needs: ALEX: bespoke experiments with high variability of setups, BETTY: engineering research software, CADEN: provenance tracking of physical samples & data samples, DORIS: high performance measurement & computation, ELLEN: extensive and heterogeneous data requirements, FRANK: many participants & simultaneous devices, GOLO: field data & distributed systems. A survey of the entire engineering research landscape in Germany confirms that the concept of engineering archetypes has been very well received. 95% of the research groups identify themselves with at least one of the NFDI4Ing archetypes. NFDI4Ing plans to further coordinate its engagement along the gateways provided by the DFG classification of engineering research areas. Consequently, NFDI4Ing will support five community clusters. In addition, an overarching task area will provide seven base services to be accessed by both the community clusters and the archetype task areas. Base services address quality assurance & metrics, research software development, terminologies & metadata, repositories & storage, data security & sovereignty, training, and data & knowledge discovery. With the archetype approach, NFDI4Ing’s work programme is modular and distinctly methodoriented. With the community clusters and base services, NFDI4Ing’s work programme remains firmly user-centred and highly integrated. NFDI4Ing has set in place an internal organisational structure that ensures viability, operational efficiency, and openness to new partners during the course of the consortium’s development. NFDI4Ing’s management team brings in the experience from two applicant institutions and from two years of actively engaging with the engineering communities. Eleven applicant institutions and over fifty participants have committed to carrying out NFDI4Ing’s work programme. Moreover, NFDI4Ing’s connectedness with consortia from nearby disciplinary fields is strong. Collaboration on cross-cutting topics is well prepared and foreseen. As a result, NFDI4Ing is ready to join the National Research Data Infrastructure.

• DFG Programme: NFDI technical and methodological consortia
• Applicant Institution: Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen
• Co-Applicant Institution: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR); Forschungszentrum Jülich; Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover; Karlsruher Institut für Technologie; Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB); Technische Universität Braunschweig; Technische Universität Darmstadt; Technische Universität Dresden; Technische Universität München (TUM); Universität Stuttgart
• Participating Institution: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM); DARL; c/o Bauhaus-Universität Weimar; Fakultät Architektur und Urbanistik / Dekanat; DataCite - International Data Citation Initiative e.V.; Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB); Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH (DFKI); Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.; Fraunhofer-Informationszentrum Raum und Bau (IRB); Fraunhofer-Institut für Produktionstechnologie (IPT); Gesellschaft für wissenschaftliche Datenverarbeitung mbH Göttingen; Helmholtz-Zentrum hereon GmbH, since 3/2023; Hochschule Darmstadt; Hochschule Fulda - University of Applied Sciences; Hochschule Karlsruhe - ; Technik und Wirtschaft; Hochschule RheinMain; Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart; Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden; International Data Spaces Association; Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen; Leibniz-Institut für Plasmaforschung und Technologie e.V. (INP), since 3/2023; Ostfalia Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften; Hochschule Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel, from 10/2020 until 6/2023; Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB); Sächsische Landesbibliothek - ; Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden; Technische Hochschule Köln; Technische Universität Berlin; Technische Universität Clausthal; Technische Universität Dortmund, since 3/2023; Technische Universität Hamburg, since 2/2024; Universität Bremen; Universität Duisburg-Essen; Universität Paderborn, since 11/2022; Universität des Saarlandes; Verein zur Förderung eines Deutschen Forschungsnetzes e. V.; DFN-Geschäftsstelle Berlin, since 11/2022; Vereinigung der Denkmalfachämter in den Ländern (VDL); c/o Landesamt für Denkmalpflege Hessen; Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktentwicklung - WiGeP; c/o Institut für Produktentwicklung und Gerätebau
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr.-Ing. Robert Schmitt
• Co-Spokespersons: Verena Anthofer, until 4/2023; Professor Dr. Sören Auer; Dr. Torsten Bronger; Professor Dr. Bernd Flemisch; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Regine Gerike; Gerald Jagusch, since 4/2023; Professor Dr.-Ing. Manfred Krafczyk, until 8/2023; Professor Dr.-Ing. Roland Lachmayer; Dr.-Ing. Christian Langenbach; Professor Dr. Matthias S. Müller; Professorin Dr. Britta Nestler; Professor Dr.-Ing. Peter F. Pelz; Dr. Annett Schwarz; Dr. Irina Sens; Professor Dr.-Ing. Christian Stemmer; Professor Dr. Detlef Stolten; Professor Dr. Achim Streit; Robert Strötgen, since 8/2023; Professor Dr. Thomas Stäcker
• Participating Persons: Professorin Dr. Jasmin Aghassi-Hagmann; Professor Dr. Karsten Albe; Professor Dr.-Ing. Gunther Brenner; Dr.-Ing. Florian Cordes; Professor Dr. Andreas Dreizler; Professor Dr. Rüdiger Ehlers; Professor Dr. Helmut Ehrenberg; Professor Dr.-Ing. Daniel Goldmann; Professor Dr.-Ing. Olivier Guillon; Dr. Stephan Hachinger; Professor Dr. Veit Hagenmeyer; Professor Dr. Sven Hartmann; Professor Dr. Christian Hasse; Professor Dr.-Ing. Martin Heilmaier; Thorsten Hülsmann; Professor Dr. Olaf Ippisch; Professor Dr. Jürgen Janek; Professor Dr. Frank Kirchner; Dr.-Ing. Christina Krafczyk; Dr. Giacomo Lanza; Dr.-Ing. Tomislav Maric, since 1/2023; Professorin Dr. Nina Merkert; Professor Dr.-Ing. Dietmar P.F. Möller; Professor Dr. Jörg P. Müller; Professor Dr.-Ing. Frank Petzold; Professor Dr. Andreas Rausch; Professor Dr. Joachim Schachtner; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Schade; Professor Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Schröder; Professor Dr. Sebastian Schöps; Professor Dr. Andreas Schütze; Professor Dr.-Ing. Rainer Stark