The Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik Berlin (ZIB) was founded by law as a statutory establishment and as a non-university research institute of the State of Berlin in 1984. In close interdisciplinary cooperation with the Berlin universities and scientific institutions Zuse Institute implements research and development in the field of information technology with a particular focus on application-oriented algorithmic mathematics and practical computer science.  ZIB also provides high-performance computer capacity as an accompanying service.

Research and development at ZIB focus on Numerical Mathematics, Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science which include:

• the theoretical analysis of mathematical models describing complex scientific, technological, social and economic processes and phenomena;
• the development of efficient algorithms to simulate and optimize such models,
• the conversion of algorithms into powerful computer codes.

All those activities, i.e. the development of theory and algorithms, the verification of algorithms with efficient computer systems, and testing the practical feasibility of mathematical models, form a lasting synthesis.

ZIB contributes to solving urgent problems in science, technology, environment or society, which conventional methods are incapable of handling, but which can be resolved by mathematical analysis. ZIB’s part is to develop innovative algorithms and to use high-performance computers in close cooperation with scientific, economic and social institutions.
This research is funded by the state of Berlin and supported – to a large extent - by third party funding. In addition to cooperating with scientific institutions, ZIB currently implements joint projects with partners from telecommunications, computer assisted medicine, biotechnology, systems biology, public transportation, transport and logistics, vehicle construction, the chemical, electrical and computer industries, energy supply, and nano-optics. Furthermore, ZIB – together with the three Berlin universities FU, HU, and TU as well as the WIAS – is one of the five institutions operating the DFG research center Matheon "Mathematics for key technologies: Modelling, simulation, and optimization of real-world processes" which is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Within the framework of the North-German Supercomputing Alliance (HLRN), ZIB operates a high-performance computing system as a service offer for universities and scientific institutions in Northern Germany. An identical system is installed at the Hannover HLRN site. A Scientific Committee that is independent of ZIB allocates computing time to major projects according to scientific criteria set up by the DFG. All projects that have been approved will be accompanied by an expert consultant (“HPC-Lotse”). 

In 2008, two new data robot systems have taken up operation at ZIB. In order to upgrade the archiving of scientific data ZIB received funds from the current economic stimulus program (“Konjunkturprogramm II”) and has since been able to offer this high-quality service to other research institutes in Berlin.
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