Campus

Linking science and business

On 15 December 2009 Aachen City Council approved the construction of the RWTH Aachen university campus. The project will see the construction of 19 research clusters on Campus Melaten and Campus West, covering a total area of 800,000 m². This will allow up to 250 companies - with research and development capacities of their own - to settle here and work on holistic, multidisciplinary key research topics in collaboration with RWTH institutes. This in turn will create up to 10,000 new jobs throughout the RWTH campus as well as in and around Aachen. Six clusters have so far been defined for the RWTH Aachen university campus. The FIR is responsible for the "Logistics" cluster.

Research Cluster Logistics

The research cluster "Logistics" is geared to an entirely new form of cooperation between research and industry. Three innovation labs, with a research focus on ERP (interoperability, standardisation, system integration), Smart Objects (technology scouting and application, information logistics, standardisation of intelligent objects) and Services  (integration and modularisation of customer-oriented service systems, cooperation effects as a result of service provision in cooperation with other partners) aim to solve both research-driven and industry-commissioned problem statements. The production line of the logistics theatre offers a direct application and test environment of a real value chain. Additionally, thanks to demo cases and training scenarios, it serves as a demonstration tool for professionals undergoing further training.

First Innovation Laboratory of the RWTH Aachen university campus: "ERP Innovation Lab"

FIR took its first step towards the RWTH campus in November 2009. On 18 November the FIR opened the first innovation laboratory for research and development of ERP systems - the ERP Innovation Lab. The laboratory explores how different ERP systems and different organisations can be connected and which techniques and standards are required to achieve an optimal ERP solution. Findings from the first stage of the innovation labs could eventually be used on campus to explore real flows of goods and their regulation. Together with its partners myOpenFactory, GS1, PSI, itelligence, AP, Hewlett-Packard, BTC, Dr. Sander and VDMA, the FIR combines expertise from research and industry that will lead to new developments in the field of ERP that will benefit the industry.

 
ERP-Innovation-Lab

The ERP Innovation Lab will - in the long term – be integrated into the RWTH Aachen university campus.

Second Innovation Laboratory of the FIR: “Service Science Innovation Lab (SSIL)" 

Based on a completely new type of cooperation between research and industry, the Service Science Innovation Lab (SSIL) offers a platform for exchange and interaction for cutting-edge companies and excellent research institutions at the high-tech location RWTH Aachen university campus. Highly modern techniques such as digitisation, visualisation and simulation services will facilitate service innovations during the whole development process.

Turning the first sod at the RWTH Aachen campus on 18 February 2010

  
Helmut Lange (BLB Aachen), Günther Schuh (Director FIR), Jürgen Rüttgers (Ex-Prime Minister NRW), Marcel Philipp (Lord Mayor Aachen), Michael Stückradt (Permanent Secretary MIWFT NRW), Ernst Schmachtenberg (Headmaster RWTH Aachen), Ferdinand Tiggemann (BLB NRW)

Prime Minister Jürgen Rüttgers

Ulla Schmidt (SPD), Volker Stich (Administrator FIR)