I have not read the whole strategy, just skimmed it. I think one of the biggest problem of Germanies strategy (and the EU as a whole) is not trying to reach a

I have not read the whole strategy, just skimmed it. I think one of the biggest problem of Germanies strategy (and the EU as a whole) is not trying to reach a critical mass (of researchers etc.) somewhere. You need a lot of ingredients for a center to suceed. Really good research, a lot of students, enterpreneus, funding for startups and strong industrial players. I really liked the ELLIS-proposal. That should be the way to go. A concentrated effort with one big brand with a single hub in each (Ellis-)member state. Something that's recognizable. 12 centers are way too much for germany. I think 6 would be the absolute maximum, with 3-4 the optimal, realistic number (for example: Munich, Aachen, Karlsruhe, Tübingen). Then you could create some "applied ML" centers to distribute it further. It's the same with the university excellence-strategy. 57 clusters are way too much. A tiered, more fluid system would be way better in my opinion, with a few "very excellent" universites, but also a way to build a profile and a way to establish key research-areas for the rest. If you divide a sizable budget (and it's even not that sizable!) often enough, you end up with nothing. And germany always does that. (Off-topic) I always see these big numbers from china, but I don't see any results in actual research yet. I have only come across a few papers from chinese universites and they were consistently not very good.