Campus
At the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, we have just under 600 employees of which over half are researchers. The campus is divided in two: one part is in Stuttgart and one in Tübingen which lie about 40km apart. The six Departments are equally spread among our two sites: The Haptic Intelligence, Physical Intelligence and Robotic Materials Departments are based in Stuttgart. Based in Tübingen are the Empirical Inference, the Perceiving Systems and the Social Foundations of Computation Department.
Tübingen Campus
Stuttgart CampusThe Tübingen campus lies on a steep hill overlooking the picturesque university town in the South of Germany. Right next door is the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, as well as the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory. All our offices and laboratories are embedded in lofty and modern buildings. While the institutes each have their own scientific focus, many campus facilities are shared, like the Campus IT infrastructure, the Max Planck House with guest rooms, a canteen and a cafeteria serving healthy food, a lecture hall, and a library. And we have a daycare called “Planckton” for children under 3. After all, the Max Planck Institutes help facilitate a family-friendly work-life balance.
The Stuttgart Campus, which we share with the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, is situated between Vaihingen and Büsnau, and very close to the University of Stuttgart Vaihingen campus, embedded in a beautiful valley surrounded by lush green fields and forests. It too has auditoriums, a guest house, a library, and a kids daycare named "Forscherzwerge".
Stuttgart and Tübingen are beautiful cities with rich histories:
Stuttgart is the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany’s biggest exporting state in the South West of the country. It is a city of stately elegance with its many castles, and at the same time an economic hub, home to many world-renowned companies such as Daimler, Porsche or Bosch. Stuttgart, which sits in a valley through which the river Neckar runs through, is beautifully surrounded by vine-clad hills (there are vineyards in the heart of the city!), there are many parks and green areas, making Stuttgart one of the greenest cities in Germany. The Swabian Alps and the Black Forest are only an hour away. There´s also a great cultural scene with a world-famous opera house, two musical theaters, many cinemas, clubs, bars and restaurants. Mineral baths for relaxation are scattered around town - in short: the city is all about a high quality of life. Stuttgart is a modern, urban and cosmopolitan city, with that certain something and a great place to live. It is multicultural with a total population of just over 608,000 of which 150,000 are foreigners, coming from over 170 nations.
Tübingen is a charming medieval town located on a hill overlooking the river Neckar in southern Germany. This medieval town is full of half-timbered houses from the 15th century, pedestrian streets, and market squares with many restaurants, cafes, and shops. The Swabian university town of 91,000 inhabitants of which about 27,000 are students combines the flair of a lovingly restored town with the colorful bustle and typical atmosphere of a young and cosmopolitan students‘ town, perfect for singles and families alike, with a lively arts and entertainment scene. The town is surrounded by fields and forests with endless walking, biking, horse riding, and mountain biking trails. Tübingen lies at the center of Europe, between the vibrant city of Stuttgart and the expansive nature of the Swabian Alb. Science, culture, history, and nature combine to make Tübingen a delightful place to live or visit.
There are also numerous collaborations within the Tübingen Research Campus and with the University of Tübingen, including the Tübingen AI Center, the ELLIS Institute Tübingen, the Center for Integrative Neuroscience, the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, the Department of Computer Science, and the University Hospital Clinics.