Heilbronn news 6/25 – Contracts signed and sealed
With the final contracts signed between ETH Zurich and the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, the first professorships in Heilbronn can now be advertised.
Yesterday, on Monday, 15 December 2025, ETH President Jo?l Mesot travelled with a university delegation to Heilbronn, where he signed the contracts between ETH Zurich and the Dieter Schwarz Foundation. This clears the way for the first professorships to be filled.
Over the course of 2025, the operational company “ETH Zurich 365体育官网_365体育备用【手机在线】 Heilbronn gGmbH” began work, an architectural competition enabled us to see what the buildings that ETH will occupy in the future will look like, and with the approval of the professorship profiles, the ETH Executive Board outlined the academic profile of the university in Heilbronn.
Reflections on signing
Jo?l Mesot looks back on a year of intensive preparation: “With the construction of a campus in Baden-Württemberg, we are literally entering uncharted territory. Many ETH members have been working flat out to find solutions to completely new legal and organisational issues. I would like to thank them and the Dieter Schwarz Foundation for the trust they are placing in our university.”
Reinhold R. Geilsd?rfer, Managing Director of the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, sees the ecosystem continuing to grow: “What we have set the seal on today will greatly strengthen our innovation ecosystem. When the first ETH researchers begin their work here in 2026, they will experience an environment unparalleled in Europe – with university and research partners such as TUM and the Fraunhofer Institute and, above all, our Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence in the immediate vicinity. Heilbronn is sending a clear signal today: we are ready for cutting-edge international research.”
Looking ahead: the campus is growing
As the selection committees begin their work, development of the site is also progressing. The ETH employees, who were previously housed in temporary rooms, are preparing to move to an alternative space until the new buildings on the Bildungscampus West are ready for occupancy. The first professorships are scheduled to begin teaching and research in 2026.
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