To support the development of the profile, the interdisciplinary Institute for Applied Research Urban Futures (IaF) was founded in 2014 as a central institution of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. The IaF takes up inter- and transdisciplinary questions of urban developments and works on them in research projects. In order to be able to comprehensively grasp and research the complexity of urban topics, three research professorships with the denominations "Resource-optimised and climate-adapted construction", "Sustainable urban development strategies" and "Information, visualisation & management" were assigned to the IaF. Despite its supra-regional and international networking, the IaF sees itself primarily as a catalyst for applied research in cooperation with regional actors. It supports interdisciplinary cooperation as well as the dynamisation and expansion of research cooperation with practical partners from business, administration and civil society.