ZEISS Invests €30 Million in Innovation Hub at KIT

OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 2017-09-25.

ZEISS plans to build a new shared innovation hub on the north campus of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2018; the €30 million hub will cover 12,000 square meters.

With the ZEISS Innovation Hub, the global technology leader in optics and optoelectronics is making a sustainable investment in Germany as a place for innovation.

As an active sponsor of the sciences, these closer links between industry and science mean that synergy effects can be utilized more intensively.

ZEISS wants the hub to house high-tech and digital start-ups, as well as its own innovation and new business activities. KIT will thus join forces with ZEISS experts to pave the way for the technologies of the future.

Long-term prospects for KIT carve-outs

KIT, whose third pillar is innovation – alongside research and teaching – aims to use this hub to provide long-term prospects for carve-outs at the site. The space currently available to this end has been maxed out. At the ZEISS Innovation Hub, KIT will be able to lease a portion of the space for its own carve-outs and innovation activities.
This collaboration between KIT and ZEISS is based on solid foundations as the hub will also be home to Nanoscribe GmbH. It has been a successful KIT carve-out since 2007, and ZEISS is a stakeholder. With this move, Nanoscribe will have more space to grow its innovative technology for micro 3D printing.
The new building will encompass modern offices, labs and production areas on a total of 12,000 square meters. Construction is scheduled for early 2018. The building should be operational by the end of 2019. The agreement is currently being defined by the parties.

Strategic partnership between ZEISS and KIT

The longstanding successful collaboration between ZEISS and the KIT is set to develop into a strategic partnership. The collaboration agreement, which is currently being finalized, will regulate work in research, teaching and innovation, as well as in internationalization, the careers service and dialog with society. The focus will be on topics such as machine learning and computer vision applications.

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Statements on the project

Prof. Dr. Michael Kaschke, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss AG

“We look forward to opening a site in the new location of Karlsruhe. This new concept means the ZEISS Innovation Hub at KIT will become a shared center for science, start-ups and leading technology companies. Everyone will benefit from this unique combination of physical and thematic proximity.”

Prof. Dr. Holger Hanselka, President of KIT

“The commitment shown by ZEISS at KIT’s north campus will bolster innovation at KIT and promote close collaboration with industry while being a point of contact for our graduates as they embark on a career in the industry. Thanks to the ZEISS Innovation Hub, we can also offer our highly innovative carve-outs the space to develop so that scientific research can be turned into market-ready products without delay, thus benefitting both industry and society.”

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth, Vice President of KIT for Innovation and International Affairs at KIT

“ZEISS’s project is highly significant in terms of our innovation strategy, which is centered around the collaboration with industry, and around carve-outs. The strategic partnership with ZEISS is the expansion of a longstanding tradition of collaboration. The Innovation Hub is a key milestone; both partners and Baden-Württemberg, as an attractive business location, will benefit from this over the long term.”

Statement from the Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts in Baden-Württemberg:

The Ministries of Science and Finance are delighted at the willingness shown by ZEISS to construct an incubator building on KIT’s north campus. This is in accordance with the vote taken on the KIT Supervisory Board, which welcomed the project and congratulated KIT on this opportunity: Such a long-term partnership will benefit partners from science and industry.”

Martin Hermatschweiler, CEO of Nanoscribe GmbH

“As a KIT carve-out, we here at Nanoscribe will be very proud to move into the ZEISS Innovation Hub @ KIT. This ensemble of inspiring architecture, close links to KIT and networking in the hub will continue to drive our innovation culture. The project and the opportunities for growth it affords us are a symbol of the excellent and lasting support that ZEISS is showing us as one of our stakeholders, and that we’re receiving from KIT, too.”