New AMDL to Accelerate Materials Discovery – High-Level Visit to MPI-FKF in Stuttgart
How do we develop the materials that will power tomorrow’s technologies?
At the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (MPI-FKF) in Stuttgart, a new chapter is about to begin: With the upcoming Accelerated Materials Discovery Laboratory (AMDL), the institute is building an environment that combines artificial intelligence, robotic synthesis and high-throughput analytics. The goal is clear: to discover and optimize new materials faster than ever before – especially for energy technologies and quantum research.
The strategic importance of this development was underlined by a high-level visit on 23 January 2026, when Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Petra Olschowski, the state’s Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, and Prof. Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society, visited MPI-FKF in Stuttgart.
€47 million in funding: building the AMDL
The State of Baden-Württemberg is supporting the AMDL with €47 million in funding (2025/26 budget). The laboratory will establish new ways of working in materials research by integrating automated experimentation and data-driven methods into a continuous workflow – from design and synthesis to analysis and feedback.
By combining large-scale parallel experimentation with intelligent data processing, researchers will be able to explore entire material families more efficiently and identify promising candidates with far greater speed.
Winfried Kretschmann commented: “The Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research owes much of its outstanding scientific performance to its first-class laboratories. With the AMDL, the next unique research environment is now set to be created. This will enable us to strengthen our technological sovereignty here at home,” said Kretschmann. “In this laboratory of the future, the development of innovative materials will not only be drastically accelerated, but rethought from the ground up: thanks to artificial intelligence, hundreds of experiments will be carried out in parallel and material properties will be automatically catalogued.”
Precision Laboratory: enabling research in extreme stability
During their visit, the delegation also toured MPI-FKF’s Precision Laboratory, presented by Prof. Klaus Kern. The facility is one of the institute’s flagship infrastructures: highly decoupled laboratory environments allow experiments under extremely stable conditions – and, when needed, at temperatures close to absolute zero. Since its opening in 2012, the Precision Laboratory has continuously contributed to a growing output of scientific results and publications.
AI meets materials science – from automation to insight
A key moment of the visit was the presentation of the AMDL plans by Prof. Bettina Lotsch. The new laboratory will integrate advanced automation platforms, fast characterization tools and AI-supported analysis methods. Together, these technologies are expected to significantly shorten the path from an initial idea to a functional material – helping researchers tackle urgent challenges in energy efficiency, sustainability and next-generation quantum technologies.
Long-term investment in Stuttgart’s research landscape
The AMDL is part of a broader long-term investment strategy at the Stuttgart site. Following the new construction, MPI-FKF plans a comprehensive modernization of its main building from 1969. The Max Planck Society will provide €150 million for additional infrastructure measures at the institute.
In the institute’s immediate neighborhood, further major projects are underway – including a new Cyber Valley building at the nearby Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), strengthening the region’s research ecosystem at the intersection of AI, quantum technologies and materials science.
A strong signal for future-oriented research
As host of the visit, Prof. Bernhard Keimer, Managing Director of MPI-FKF, highlighted the strategic relevance of the investments for the institute’s future direction. Prof. Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society, placed the developments in the wider context of enabling world-class basic research through long-term commitment and state-of-the-art infrastructure.
With the AMDL, MPI-FKF is building on its tradition of internationally leading materials research – while moving decisively into a new era: faster discovery, smarter development and deeper understanding of the materials shaping tomorrow’s world.
