In 2014, successful mathematical institutions in Berlin – the DFG research centre MATHEON, the Berlin Mathematical School and the German Center for Mathematics Teacher Education – collaborate under the roof of the Einstein Center for Mathematics. Their aim was to conduct application-oriented basic research in innovative fields and to jointly expand established structures in science and research as well as interfaces with external partners. The success of the Einstein Center for Mathematics (ECMath) is demonstrated by numerous successful initiatives.
In September 2018, the joint proposal by the Berlin universities for a mathematical Cluster of Excellence under the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments was approved. This cluster builds on the established cooperation structures of the Einstein Center for Mathematics. In the cross-institutional and interdisciplinary Cluster of Excellence "Berlin Mathematics Research Center MATH+", researchers are exploring new approaches in applied mathematics, such as the opportunities of digital transformation.
To promote outstanding doctoral dissertations in mathematics, the "MATH+ Dissertation Award", endowed with 2,000 euros each, is presented annually by the Einstein Foundation Berlin and the Berlin Mathematical School (BMS). The award generally honors up to three doctoral theses that have been completed within the framework of the MATH+ Cluster of Excellence and the BMS.
Einstein-funded researchers are also integrated into the organizational structures of the MATH+ research center: Martin Skutella, Einstein Professor of Combinatorial Optimization and Graph Algorithms at TU Berlin, is one of three spokespeople of the cluster. The "Thematic Einstein Semester", held for the first time in the 2019 summer semester, is led, among others, by Michael Joswig, Einstein Professor at TU Berlin with a research focus on discrete mathematics and geometry.
The funding period of the Einstein Center for Mathematics began with a one-year preparation phase in January 2013 and ended with the funding decision under the Excellence Strategy in December 2018. During this five-year period, the Einstein Foundation supported the center with a total of around 11.9 million euros. In order to preserve the Einstein Center in its highly successful "enabling" role as the structural umbrella organization for mathematics in Berlin, the Einstein Foundation has continued to support the mathematical center since January 2019 - through to the end of 2025 - with 300,000 euros annually. The funds are intended in particular to support early-career researchers. In total, funding for the Einstein Center for Mathematics amounts to around 14 million euros.
