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Zeiss invest over €300M in Jena expansion

Zeiss said it will invest over €300 million in a new integrated high-tech site in Jena, Germany.

According to the plan, Zeiss will bring together its existing sites in Jena by 2023. To do this, the company will acquire partially unused premises from Schott, which it will then renovate and use to construct a new facility for its second-largest site worldwide. This entire project will make Jena an integral part of Zeiss’s global investment strategy. The company has been expanding, modernising and realigning sites that Zeiss has been implementing in locations such as Germany, Europe and Asia since 2011. Just three weeks ago, the company announced plans to invest EUR 30 million in the Zeiss Innovation Hub at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Prof. Dr. Michael Kaschke, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss AG, explains in a press release that the company’s investments are focused on leveraging the existing potential that exists in Zeiss’ growth markets, “To do so, we need an even stronger presence and better networking at the innovation hotspots,” Kaschke says in the press release. In Jena, this translates into close collaboration with institutions such as Friedrich Schiller University, Ernst Abbe University, the Ilmenau University of Technology, other local universities of applied sciences and institutes. “These investments will enable us to become more attractive as an employer for top talents, as a company that offers traineeships for the next generation and as a collaboration partner for industry and science, and thus put us in an excellent position to ensure future customer success through our products and solutions,” continues Kaschke. With a total of 2’000 employees, Jena is already the second-largest Zeiss site worldwide. On the 80’000 square meter partially unused site that Zeiss is acquiring, the company plans to build an integrated high-tech complex that will benefit Jena, a hub for high-tech and science. And the company plans to increase the number of its employees in Jena to approximately 2,500 by the middle of the next decade. The state of Thuringia and the city of Jena have pledged extensive support to the project with the options available to them. Joint plans with the city will include constructing new transportation options and parking lots, addressing any legacy issues and ensuring a sustainable energy strategy. “The project is good news for both the state and the city,” emphasizes State Minister for Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow. “With investments in the high-tech Jena site totaling over EUR 300 million, the company is looking to the future and thus safeguarding its competitiveness on the world stage. We expect this to advance both science and industry in the region in many different ways.” Construction on the site is scheduled to begin in 2019 following the accompanying construction and consultation procedures; it will largely be complete by the end of 2023.

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March 15 2024 2:25 pm V22.4.5-2
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