Archimedes Science Award presented for the first time: Computer scientist Cordelia Schmid wins new Saxon prize for cutting-edge research
29.08.2025
The Free State of Saxony, together with TUD Dresden University of Technology, will confer the Archimedes Science Award for the first time on September 12, 2025. The award, which is endowed with EUR 50,000, honors scientific excellence that uses key findings to generate leverage in solving global challenges – in the spirit of Archimedes’ law of the lever.
The first winner is the internationally renowned computer scientist and AI researcher Dr. Cordelia Schmid. Saxony’s Minister President Michael Kretschmer will present Cordelia Schmid with the award, TUD Rector Prof. Ursula Staudinger will give the laudatory speech. Schmid will then give a keynote speech entitled Artificial Intelligence: Past, Present and Future.
The award ceremony will take place at the Festspielhaus Hellerau in Dresden as part of the Building Bridges Conference 2025, the theme of which this year is the “Latest Findings in Artificial Intelligence.”
Michael Kretschmer, Minister President of the Free State of Saxony:
“Research and innovation are decisive factors in ensuring that we can continue to live well and secure our prosperity in the future. Our aim with the international science conference here in the Free State of Saxony is to provide a platform for top-level research from Saxony and abroad to share ideas with politics and business, thereby opening up new perspectives and collaborations. The Archimedes Science Award honors outstanding scientific achievements and celebrates successful collaboration across borders. The first-ever recipient of the award is Dr. Cordelia Schmid, an internationally renowned, leading researcher. I would like to congratulate the winner and thank the jury for their valuable work and selection. I would also like to expressly thank TU Dresden and Rector Prof. Staudinger for their active support.”
Michael Kretschmer, Minister President of the Free State of Saxony
Prof. Ursula Staudinger, Rector of TUD and Chairwoman of the Executive Board of DRESDEN-concept e.V:
“This first-ever presentation of the Archimedes Science Award signals a strong commitment to the visibility of scientific excellence in Saxony and beyond. The high-caliber jury – consisting of the presidents of the major German research organizations, the President of the German Rectors’ Conference, and the head of the DRESDEN-concept Alliance – underlines the importance of both this award and the prizewinner. The fact that the award has been presented to Dr. Cordelia Schmid illustrates the relevance of AI for solving global challenges. With her fundamental contributions to the real-time recognition of complex objects in images and videos, Cordelia Schmid has had a lasting impact on her field of research and is one of the pioneers of AI research. Her core research areas in computer vision, machine learning and robotics also fit in perfectly with the strengths of TUD, which is one of the leading hubs for data-intensive science and AI with the ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig Center and is at the forefront of research into human-machine interaction as part of the CeTI Cluster of Excellence. It is therefore a great pleasure for us at TUD to present this new award for the first time together with the Free State of Saxony and the DRESDEN-concept Alliance.”