Schneider-Ammann opens information pavilion

Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich is visibly taking shape. Around a decade after the entrepreneur Ruedi Noser brought the idea of a national innovation park on the former military airfield site in Dübendorf onto the national agenda, the Zurich senate member could finally attend the opening of the Information Pavilion at the Innovation Park. With him were Federal Councillor Johann Schneider-Ammann and the head of the canton’s Department for Economic Affairs, Carmen Walker Späh. 

The pavilion was built by the timber construction company Blumer-Lehmann AG from Gossau in the canton of St.Gallen and houses the offices of the Innovation Park Zurich Foundation, a café and an exhibition space. The Innovation Park is using the existing military hangars for now, and the first companies and research units are expected to move in this year. Plans to move the military and construct new buildings are underway.

The Innovation Park will begin with topics from aerospace under the direction of the University of Zurich, robotics and mobility led by the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, and modern production technologies under the direction of the Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa). 

The University of Zurich calls the Dübendorf region a “hot spot” for aerospace activities. “In such a small space you find expertise in the fields of air traffic control, operation and maintenance. At the same time, the airfield, hangars and, in the future, the Innovation Park offer an ideal infrastructure that is unique in Europe.” 

The Innovation Park is inviting the public to an open day on Saturday. Some of the topics and projects that will be dealt with in Dübendorf will be displayed in Hangar 3, along with speakers and presentations.