Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) will apply with a Cluster of Excellence, "BlueMat: Water-Driven Materials", in the nationwide competition of universities for funding as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. In May 2023, 143 draft proposals were submitted by 59 universities. In this first phase of the competition, 41 draft proposals were selected for the second round of evaluation. TUHH's draft proposal was positively evaluated and the team was invited to submit a full proposal by summer 2023.

To further strengthen the international competitiveness of research at German universities, the federal and state governments have established the Excellence Strategy (ExStra www.exzellenzstrategie.de/en/) as a permanent funding program. Researchers and universities enjoy a completely free choice of research fields and profile areas. The annual budget for selected Clusters of Excellence and Universities of Excellence is currently EUR 385 million p. a., with the overall budget having been increased to EUR 539 million per year from 2026 onwards. The key objective of the Excellence Strategy is to strengthen top-level research in areas that are internationally competitive, to institutionally strengthen German universities, and to advance the development of the German higher education system.

The Cluster of Excellence "BlueMat: Water-Driven Materials" based at the TUHH is a research cooperation of 25 core and 20 associated research groups between the TUHH, the Helmholtz Center Hereon, the University of Hamburg, DESY, the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, the Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, the European X-Ray Free Electron Laser GmbH (EuXFEL), as well as the Hamburg University of Fine Arts and other associated partners in the Hamburg area. The project is led by the TUHH, in particular the spokespersons Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Patrick Huber, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Irina Smirnova and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christian Cyron. In the event of funding, the TUHH and other applicant partners would receive funding of around 7 million euros per year for 7 years from 2026 onwards.