Mobile telephones, navigation devices, car keys – today numerous pieces of equipment send and receive signals without using wires. Cooperative sensor communication has the potential to provide many other services – in environmental protection, in medical care, in logistics and electromobility and in the provision of personalised information, for instance. The LOEWE research cluster Cocoon carries out fundamental research in the field of basic technologies and new network architectures. For example, the interlinking of many different services to form a “smart city” calls for an intelligent network of users, computers and a wide range of different devices. As in the development of new applications, the key criterion here is unimpeded and secure communication between increasing numbers of sensors. Building on the foundations of Cocoon, countless new research questions have emerged, such as how information and communication technology can connect people in a crisis and help them to work together, which is the topic of the newly founded LOEWE research cluster NICER.