By working together on complex scientific questions and developing new research projects, Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Japanese research institute RIKEN are expanding their partnership in a bilateral cooperation agreement. Both institutions aim to strategically combine the expertise of their outstanding researchers with their state-of-the-art research infrastructures. The agreement, which was signed in January 2026, was celebrated by both organizations on 9 October at the RIKEN site in Wako. The official event took place as part of a Helmholtz Association delegation's visit to Japan.
Nowadays, reliable international research partnerships are more important than ever. Many scientific questions are too complex for a single institution or country to answer on its own. For this reason, Jülich and RIKEN are building long-term partnerships and fostering open exchange across national borders. Having worked together for many years, they are now fusing complementary strengths to collaboratively develop novel scientific approaches.
"We are motivated by shared scientific questions: How do we decipher the complex interactions within large neural networks? How can we gain an even deeper understanding of the properties of materials? And how can we use these insights to lay the groundwork for the information technologies of tomorrow?" says Astrid Lambrecht, Chair of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich. "With this agreement, we are bringing our research teams even closer together, with the aim of pushing scientific boundaries, advancing common research questions, and turning the resulting insights into groundbreaking research projects."
As one of Japan's leading research organizations, RIKEN encompasses a network of research centres and institutes. The agreement enables Jülich and RIKEN to move their collaboration beyond the confines of single research teams. They will develop new joint projects and also create new opportunities for the next generation of researchers. The collaboration spans a wide range of fields, from high-performance computing and quantum computing through neuroscience to transmission electron microscopy and neutron research.
With JUPITER in Jülich and Fugaku at RIKEN, both institutions have two of the world's most powerful supercomputers at their disposal. With many years of experience, their researchers leverage high-performance computing and advanced computational methods to solve complex scientific problems.
Additional synergies arise from linking supercomputers with quantum computers. Through its JUNIQ user infrastructure, Jülich connects different quantum systems with its supercomputing infrastructure. With projects such as JHPC-quantum, RIKEN is developing software to enable the two computing technologies to work together.
