The Helmholtz Information & Data Science Platforms

The Helmholtz Information & Data Science Platforms are a driving force for innovation across the Helmholtz Association. They empower cutting-edge research by harnessing the full potential of information and data sciences — connecting people, technologies, and ideas across disciplines.

From climate modeling and biomedical imaging to AI simulations and sensor networks, scientific progress today depends on how we manage, analyze, and share data. Information and data sciences are central to every research field within Helmholtz. That’s why Helmholtz brings together its digital strengths — experts, infrastructure, data resources, algorithms, and services — in one powerful structure: the Helmholtz Information & Data Science Platforms (HIDS).

HIDS connects researchers, data scientists, developers, and infrastructure specialists from all Helmholtz Centers to support data-driven science at every stage, providing consulting, tools, training, collaboration, networking opportunities and funding. Its federated structure consists of five specialized platforms, each focusing on key areas of digital science ranging from large-scale image data, building AI models, managing metadata, developing research software or providing training.

Five Platforms – Countless Possibilities

Helmholtz AI: AI consulting
offers tailored consulting, computing resources, and funding opportunities to democratize and accelerate the application of artificial intelligence in science – supporting a wide range of use cases, from foundation models to domain-specific solutions.

Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy (HIDA): Training & networking
offers a rich portfolio of training, networking, and funding opportunities, fostering the next generation of data scientists and supporting up-skilling across all career stages.

Helmholtz Federated IT Services Cloud (HIFIS): Software & IT support
provides and brokers federated cloud services hosted across Helmholtz centers and delivers training and support on using those services, as well as on Research Software Engineering.

Helmholtz Imaging: Imaging expertise & tools
provides access to cutting-edge imaging resources, funding opportunities, and expert consulting – enabling researchers to unlock new insights from complex image data across all research domains, and make accessible to everyone the innovative modalities, methodological richness, and data treasures of the Helmholtz Association.

Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC): Metadata and FAIR data expertise & tools
provides internationally aligned data management concepts, tools, services and training to support the Helmholtz Association – ensuring your data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) for collaborative research and advanced science. 

By working together, the Helmholtz Information & Data Science Platforms make Helmholtz’s digital capabilities more connected, more accessible, and more collaborative.