German Science Council Funds Optics Research in Hannover

The German Science Council has recommended funding for a new research building and campus in the Hannover Marienwerder Science Park. “OPTICUM — Optics University Center and Campus” will bring together activities in the fields of optics, production technology, materials development, and computer science. The four-floor building will feature more than 43,000 sq ft of space.

The OPTICUM will be financed (subject to the Joint Science Conference’s final decision) with €54.2 million ($65.5 million). The federal government and the state of Lower Saxony will each contribute half of the funding.

The design for the planned research building OPTICUM — Optics University Center and Campus at Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. The design comes from the international architectural office Henn. Courtesy of Henn.

The complex will bring together the approximately 120 optics researchers who are part of the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering — Innovation Across Disciplines. That group is currently working on novel integrated optics solutions, though its members are not working in a central location. Between 2019 and 2025, PhoenixD will receive approximately €52 million ($62.9 million) from the federal government and the state of Lower Saxony via the German Research Foundation (DFG). The cluster is a collaboration of TU Braunschweig, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, and Laser Zentrum Hannover eV.

In 2020, Leibniz University Hannover founded the Leibniz School of Optics & Photonics (LSO); the LSO is closely linked to the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD and will manage OPTICUM. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2022, with completion expected by 2026.