This is according to the '2018 Funding Atlas' (Förderatlas 2018) published by the German Research Foundation (DFG), which documents DFG funding received in the period from 2014 to 2016. During this period the RMU attracted more than six percent of all DFG funding granted to a total of 216 universities. This includes grants for the universities as a whole from the third funding programme in the Excellence Initiative (future concepts) as well as funding for infrastructure.

By comparison with the years 2011 to 2013 the total funding attracted by the RMU has increased by 42 million euros. The Goethe University Frankfurt attracted a total of 194.5 million euros between 2014 and 2016, the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz 133.4 million euros and TU Darmstadt 129.5 million euros.

The results of the DFG 'Funding Atlas' reflect the synergies of this regional alliance of universities. Due to their strong collaborative research consortiums and complementary characteristics the RMU have also significantly boosted their performance capability. While the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz occupies first place nationwide for the natural sciences with around 70 million euros of DFG grant funds, TU Darmstadt is also up there in pole position with 21 million euros of DFG funding for computer science and it ranks fourth nationwide for engineering at 82.5 million euros. In the life sciences the Goethe University Frankfurt achieves eighth place with 87.8 million euros and fifth for humanities at 56.3 million euros.

Looking at the overall picture, the results of the three RMU in all areas of academia underline how attractive the Rhine-Main is as a globally visible academic region, which is both nationally and internationally competitive. This is thanks in no small part to the diversity and highly complementary nature of the three research-focused universities in the region.

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