Max Planck Society Enters SE Asia with Singapore Centers

Max Planck Society deepens its partnership with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU)

To the point

• First Max Planck Centers in Southeast Asia: On 20 April 2026, agreements for the first two Max Planck Centers in Singapore were signed at the Nanyang Technological University.
• Data for the chemistry of the future: At the Max Planck Singapore Center for Data-driven Chemistry, researchers use automated experiments and artificial intelligence to generate reliable data for chemical reactions and new materials.
• Bringing biodiversity and culture together: The Max Planck-NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding brings together researchers, artists, curators, legal scholars, and knowledge-holding communities to explore how biological diversity and cultural life shape one another.
• Partnership with Singapore grows: The opening of the two Centers marks a new stage in the Max Planck Society's collaboration with Singapore and further deepens this partnership. The impetus came from Patrick Cramer's trip to Asia in spring 2024: as the first Max Planck President ever to visit Singapore, he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nanyang Technological University to expand scientific cooperation.

Which substances react with one another, and under which conditions? Which catalysts accelerate reactions most effectively? What mechanisms and kinetic laws govern chemical reactions? And what role do solvents play? To answer these and similar questions with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), chemistry - like many other fields of science - needs one thing above all: reliable data, generated in reproducible experiments, in sufficient quantity and precision. Today, however, chemical experiments are often difficult to reproduce. Descriptions in the scientific literature are frequently incomplete and do not document all relevant parameters. Negative results - such as reactions that did not proceed as planned - are rarely published.

The Max Planck Singapore Center for Data-driven Chemistry therefore aims to generate reliable chemical data through automation and standardization. The goal is to create "AI-ready" datasets that make it possible to use artificial intelligence to gain fundamental insights into chemical reactions and the development of new materials.

"The collaboration with our colleagues in Singapore is an important step toward the digitalization of chemistry," says Peter Seeberger. "Only a shared global approach can drive this important revolution in chemistry - which is why we are excited to embark on this groundbreaking research together."

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems in Magdeburg, Germany are working with partners from Singapore at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the National University of Singapore, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research. The Singaporean partners conduct world-class research and face challenges similar to those in Germany when it comes to the digitalization of chemistry. Together, they aim to develop globally accepted data standards, attract international talent, and translate their findings into applications in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The systematic exchange of complex chemical process data across institutional and national boundaries could become a blueprint for future cooperation between research organizations and industry.

The participating Max Planck Institutes contribute complementary strengths. The team led by Peter Seeberger at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces studies complex chemical reactions in synthetic chemistry and automates synthesis processes, for example for the production of pharmaceuticals and vaccines. At the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, the department headed by Kai Sundmacher develops data-driven methods to predict material properties, analyze the structure and kinetics of chemical reaction networks, and design molecules, materials, and process configurations for sustainable chemical production systems.

"Our vision is to explore large molecular design spaces using data-driven methods and to search for novel molecules and material structures with optimal properties," says Kai Sundmacher. "These could include highly efficient catalysts for fine chemicals or environmentally friendly solvents for plastic recycling."

A New Framework for Understanding Biodiversity, Culture, and Knowledge

The other A second Max Planck Center with Singapore also officially launched on 20 April: the Max Planck-NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding (CBCW), a new joint initiative of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany and the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art in Singapore. Planned to run from 2026 to 2031, with the option of a five-year extension, the Center brings together researchers, artists, curators, legal scholars, and knowledge-holding communities to explore how biological diversity and cultural life are profoundly entangled, how this entanglement shapes planetary futures, and what forms of knowledge are needed to respond to these realities.

Rather than treating nature and culture as separate spheres, the Center seeks to understand how ecosystems, biodiversity, cultural practices, and systems of knowledge continuously shape one another. It defines "biocultural worlding" as the active and ongoing process through which human and non-human beings collectively create, interpret, and inhabit worlds through intertwined biological and cultural knowledge.

"The CBCW is here to make possible a more reflective and responsible culture of knowledge production," says Dagmar Schäfer, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and co-lead of CBCW. "Its core contribution lies in making people of different backgrounds responsibly think through how knowledge is generated, shared, attributed, and sustained across communities."

"Who owns culture and its embedded knowledge, meanings, values, systems, and objects? The Centre furthermore intends to complicate the problematic notion of 'cultural ownership', in part rooted in ongoing global discourses on rematriation, restitution, conservation, and the preservation of culture," adds Professor Ute Meta Bauer, Acting Director of the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and co-lead of CBCW.

The Center is conceived not only as a research program, but also as a new institutional model. Its aim is to overcome the disciplinary boundaries that often separate the epistemic, ethical, and political dimensions of contemporary challenges. By bringing together different forms of expertise and ways of knowing, CBCW seeks to create new forms of inquiry that no single discipline could develop on its own.

Initiated by NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany, the partnership builds on the complementary strengths of its founding institutions. The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science contributes historical and archival expertise, structural analysis, and global intellectual networks. The NTU Centre for Contemporary Art brings curatorial practice, experimentation, and regionally grounded research experience in Asia, the Pacific, and the Global South. Together, they aim to establish a new framework for understanding the relationship between biodiversity, culture, and knowledge.Formularbeginn

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