At the start of 2016, the DFG has underlined the expectations of the research community with regard to the planned new federal-state initiative for the further development of the Excellence Initiative. At a press conference in Berlin on Monday morning, DFG President Professor Dr. Peter Strohschneider and Secretary General Dorothee Dzwonnek shared their views on the possible objectives and format of a new round of the programme first launched in 2006. On Monday evening, the largest research funding organisation and central self-governing organisation of the research community in Germany welcomed more than 300 guests to its traditional New Year reception.