Five Franconian universities will join the European AI research network ELLIS. The University of Würzburg, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, the University of Bamberg, the University of Bayreuth and the Technical University of Nuremberg will establish the ELLIS Unit Franconia.
The new consortium will be led by Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and Nuremberg University of Technology. Bamberg University and Bayreuth University complete ELLIS unit Franconia.
The Franconia Consortium is one of seven new ELLIS units officially announced by the European Research Network on 18 May 2026. Alongside ELLIS Unit Franconia, the newly established units are the Czech Republic, Denmark, Grenoble, NRW, Slovenia and Sweden. The network currently consists of 44 ELLIS units, including 150 institutions across Europe, from Sweden to Portugal.
New opportunities for Würzburg and Europe
ELLIS (European Institute for Learning and Intelligent Systems) is one of Europe’s leading networks in machine learning and artificial intelligence. The creation of the Franconian consortium highlights the growing importance of AI research in the region and at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg. This opens up new opportunities for scientific cooperation, talent development and joint research projects across Europe.
Würzburg’s contribution to the research consortium is from the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science – CAIDAS.
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