ETH Zurich plans Heilbronn teaching and research center with foundation backing

ETH Zurich and the Dieter Schwarz Foundation signed a letter of intent on December 8, 2023, to create a teaching and research center for responsible digital transformation. Funded by donations from the German nonprofit foundation, around 20 new professorships are to be established over the next 30 years in Zurich and on the foundation's education campus in Heilbronn, Germany. No financial figure was disclosed.

As a first step, two professorships in computer science and data science will be set up in Zurich, and the Zurich Information Security and Privacy Center will be developed further. An endowment fund at the ETH Foundation will anchor the partnership and pay for infrastructure in Zurich. More than half of the remaining professorships are planned for Heilbronn, where ETH intends to open its second site abroad. Focus topics include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, bioinformatics and the circular economy, and the Heilbronn site is expected to develop courses ranging from continuing education to degree programs.

ETH Zurich has operated a research center in Singapore since 2010. The Heilbronn campus already hosts branches of the Technical University of Munich and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and the foundation maintains partnerships with institutions including the University of Oxford, Stanford University and HEC Paris.