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Since its foundation in 1966 as a reform university, the University of Konstanz has stood for top-level research, excellence in teaching and study, internationality, and interdisciplinary collaboration. This distinctive orientation soon led to the development of a profile that stands out due to a focus on high quality, innovation, creativity, and research enthusiasm. The "success story of the University of Konstanz" (Lord Dahrendorf, 2006) that has been written since 1966 is based on the themes of modernization and reform from within, which is lived by all of our members. Since 2007, the University of Konstanz has been successful in the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal and State Governments with its institutional strategy "Modell Konstanz – Towards a Culture of Creativity." This strategy focuses on developing our strengths as well as our innovative concepts and ideas. Our university is one of eleven universities in Germany whose "Institutional Strategy to Promote Top-Level Research" is funded by the German federal government and Baden-Württemberg. In 2006, our Center of Excellence "Cultural Foundations of Social Integration" was approved after the Excellence Initiative's first call for proposals. Shortly after that, in 2007, our Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology was accepted into the Excellent Initiative. During the second phase of the Excellence Initiative, we were able to further enhance our profile with the Graduate School of Decision Sciences, established in 2012. The University of Konstanz is a medium-sized campus university with short distances to cover. Flat hierarchies and structures within the university promote flexibility and interdisciplinary cooperation between and within the administration. The thirteen departments are divided into three faculties: the Faculty of Sciences, the Faculty of Humanities, and the Faculty of Politics – Law – Economics. Close dialogue and effective communication drive our living culture of creativity on all levels. Regarding research, our university's profile is characterized by cooperation and collaboration across disciplines, departments, and faculties. Here, too, our flat hierarchies and faculty structures promote close interdisciplinary cooperation. Another unique feature is the performance-based allocation of resources through our Committee on Research (AFF) along with a comparatively modest essential funding for our professorships. We succeeded in sharpening our research profile during the first funding phase of the Excellence Initiative. The strategic steering of the institutional strategy and the addition of other Excellence Initiative projects have carried the profile-development process even further: Apart from our successes in the Excellence Initiative, our profile has been shaped by the DFG-funded Collaborative Research Centres CRC 767 "Controlled Nanosystems: Interaction and Interfacing to the Macroscale," CRC 969 "Chemical and Biological Principles of Cellular Proteostasis" and CRC 1214 "Anisotropic Particles as Building Blocks: Tailoring Shape, Interactions and Structures" as well as the participation in the CRC-TRR 161 "Quantitative Methods for Visual Computing." The University of Konstanz strives to become a European leader in the promotion of junior researchers. Our Zukunftskolleg is a unique project in Germany in this respect. It offers our junior researchers an interdisciplinary working environment with excellent research conditions and the greatest possible freedom. Our Code of Practice for Researchers between Doctoral Studies and Professorship is further evidence of our commitment to promoting new talent. The university supports doctoral students enrolled in doctoral programs, promotes the independence of doctoral students and junior researchers as they work their way up to a professorship, and offers them a working environment to enhance their scientific qualifications. The University of Konstanz is currently home to some 11,700 students enrolled in around 100 different degree programs in mathematics and natural sciences, humanities, law, economics, and public administration. Many of them are interdisciplinary, with several international programs such as the master's programs "Public Administration and European Governance" and "Quantitative Economics." Outstanding ranking results regularly confirm our excellent quality of the study, such as the Ranking "150 under 50" in 2016 (1st place nationwide, seventh worldwide), the CHE University Ranking 2017, and our Graduate Survey 2015/2016. Our university is deeply rooted in a culture of continuous development and improvement in teaching based on research. We accomplish this by using current research results, up-to-date methods in teaching and study, and the integration of infrastructural platforms within the teaching environment. The experience and knowledge generated by our collaborative research projects also feedback into our teaching. We consider excellence and internationalization as integral components of teaching quality to internationalize our study programs further. The Hochschuldidaktikzentrum (HDZ) (university didactics center) strengthen the quality of teaching at our university. As a cross-institutional collaborative center for teaching and research, the university's Binational School of Education (BiSE) controls, coordinates, and develops all aspects of teacher education at the University of Konstanz, working closely with Thurgau University of Teacher Education (PHTG), the Staatliches Seminar für Didaktik und Lehrerbildung (Gymnasien) Rottweil and our partner schools. We are continuously improving our international visibility. Our university attracts outstanding international researchers and students to ensure excellence in research and teaching. We maintain partnerships with excellent research-oriented universities around the world. Through these efforts, the University of Konstanz guarantees its international competitiveness while simultaneously enhancing its orientation towards regional and international partnerships. In the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2016, we placed 175 worldwide. One of the reasons for this good result is the high proportion of international researchers at our university. Founded in 1966 based on forward-looking reform ideas, the University of Konstanz has continued to develop its specific model of a medium-sized further yet strongly research-oriented, innovative, and flexible institution, to generate and share new knowledge. This unique "Modell Konstanz" distinguishes itself through its flat hierarchies (which extend to the university administration) and its inherent interdisciplinarity in both research and teaching. These qualities provide the pre-requisites for successful knowledge and technology transfer. At the University of Konstanz, we define knowledge and technology transfer as reciprocal processes between science, industry, politics, and society. Following the example of a position paper published by the German Council of Science and Humanities in 2016, it categorizes knowledge and technology transfer into three spheres of activity: "communication," "advice," and "application." All the various work carried out regarding transfer is assigned to these three areas. This transfer work spectrum is deliberately comprehensive: it ranges from diverse channels and measures relating to science communication to the scientific consulting of policymakers, providing expert evaluation reports, and creating spin-offs. View full university