Lower Saxony's Minister for Science and Culture, Björn Thümler, visited Ostfalia University's Wolfenbüttel campus on August 1st to present the notification of approval for the construction of the Open Mobility Lab. The Open Mobility Lab will be a two-storey building on a plot owned by the federal state within the Wolfenbüttel university campus, with over 600 square metres of flexible research and office space. What is special about it is that, as from the summer semester of 2021, there will be interdisciplinary and inter-faculty research performed here at an international level, in the field of intelligent systems for mobility.

Presentation of the notification of approval: Science Minister Björn Thümler, Ostfalia President Rosemarie Karger and Ostfalia Deputy Head of Knowledge and Technology Transfer Kai Hillebrecht

To ensure high-quality research, targeted additions to existing research equipment are necessary. This includes an EMC anechoic chamber at a cost of approximately €350,000, which will be used for testing electromagnetic compatibility, and a complete vehicle test stand costing around €750,000. The Open Mobility Lab will thus provide attractive research infrastructures for researchers from the Ostfalia and for research partners, for example, those from the industrial sector. Cooperation with project partners, such as Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg and IAV GmbH in Gifhorn, will be strengthened thanks to the construction of the new research building, and will thus contribute to the strengthening of the regional economy.

Minister Thümler tests the driving simulator of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Ostfalia.

“With this new building, we are creating a modern research infrastructure, enabling applied research at the highest level,” explained Lower Saxony's Minister for Science and Culture, Björn Thümler.

The new research building, which will cost around €6.3mil., will be financed 50% by the ERDF (approximately €3.15mil.), from federal state funds (approximately €2.47mil.) and also from the university’s own funds (around €680,000). Prof. Dr. Gert Bikker, Ostfalia's Vice President for Research, Development and Technology Transfer will have overall responsibility for the infrastructure project, and will be in charge of the specialist project leadership and organisation at the Wolfenbüttel site.

Prof. Dr. Rosemarie Karger, President of the Ostfalia, is delighted with the approval of the new building: “With the new research building, we are getting state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and are thus considerably improving the opportunities we offer for interdisciplinary research on intelligent concepts for mobility. It is not customary for universities of applied sciences to have a construction approved which is purely for research purposes – this is a first for us. We are therefore pleased particularly, in view of the fact that the space is urgently needed.”

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