BMW Group lays the foundation for expansion of its Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ)

  • The BMW Group is investing 400 million euros in expansion of the
    FIZ in Munich
  • First phase of construction will create innovative working
    environment for 5,000 employees by 2019
  • Architecture provides for state-of-the-art, agile work structures
  • Harald Krüger: FIZ Future signals strong commitment to Munich
    location and Germany’s innovative strength. We are building the
    future right here.
  • Horst Seehofer: Expansion of the FIZ in Munich is a strong vote of
    confidence in Bavaria’s future strength

 

Munich. The BMW Group is embarking on an extensive
expansion of its FIZ Research and Innovation Centre in the north of
Munich. The “FIZ Future” masterplan, which was developed as part of an
urban development competition, will expand the development centre by
around 50 per cent by 2050. The BMW Group will invest around 400
million euros in the first phase of construction, which will create a
viable infrastructure for developing tomorrow’s mobility.

Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer, Mayor of Munich Dieter Reiter
and Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG,
launched the construction project today in the Milbertshofen district
of Munich. In an official ceremony, the foundation was laid for a
building complex with a total floor area of 157,000 m2.
From 2019 on, around 5,000 employees will work here in innovative
open-plan workspaces, developing hardware and software for the
company’s future vehicles.

“Here in Munich, we will be creating the next generations of
electrified drive trains, with decisive innovations for the mobility
of the future. Focusing on IT and artificial intelligence, this will
also be home to a new industry and a new generation of engineers and
IT specialists,” according to Harald Krüger, Chairman of the Board of
Management of BMW AG. “Today, we are laying the foundation together
for our new idea factory. FIZ Future signals our strong commitment to
the Munich location and Germany’s innovative strength. We are building
the future right here.”

Prime Minister Horst Seehofer: “My congratulations on this
far-sighted choice of location. This day will continue a 100-year
success story. The mobility of tomorrow is being created right here.
The expansion of the BMW Group’s Research and Innovation Centre in
Munich is a strong vote of confidence in Bavaria’s future strength.”

“BMW’s development, creating jobs and promoting research and
development here in the north of Munich is a great gain for our city,”
explained Dieter Reiter, Mayor of the City of Munich, at the ceremony.
“And the fact that FIZ Future in Munich is thinking about the future
of the car, researching and developing electro-mobility and
alternative drive trains and forms of mobility is also a gain for
urban mobility in general.”

FIZ Future masterplan

As part of its Strategy NUMBER ONE NEXT, the BMW Group and its
FIZ Future programme aim to create a framework for the long-term
development of its Research and Innovation Centre in the north of
Munich. With around 26,000 workspaces and approx. 1 million
m2 net floor space, the development centre is already the
BMW Group’s largest location. In several stages, the expansion will
create workspaces for another 15,000 employees by 2050. The aim is not
just to create space, but, more importantly, to provide the right
conditions for working in the future. Technological changes, driven by
digitalisation and connectivity, demand agile team structures, quick
decisions and immediate implementation. That is why the new buildings
will primarily offer open, flexible spaces where staff members can
meet, discuss and implement their ideas quickly – for example, by
testing new software for a vehicle prototype in a workshop just a few
steps away and seeing the results immediately. The FIZ expansion and
remodelling is therefore not only an investment in the future
competitiveness of the company, it is also an investment in attractive
state-of-the-art workplaces.

In the urban development competition, organised in September
2014 in close collaboration with the Department of Planning and
Building Regulations of the City of Munich, it was the proposal of
the architectural firm HENN that impressed the most. On this basis –
and with regular involvement of the people living in the north of
Munich – a FIZ Future masterplan was developed and approved by
Munich City Council in July 2016 as the basis for the expansion.
Following today’s start of construction, other administrative,
research and workshop facilities will be created over the medium and
long term, as well as test benches and design studios.