BMW is opening research and development in Munich. The FIZ Projekthaus Nord is a new building complex which expands the Munich Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ), one of the largest R&D locations in Europe. The FIZ Projekthaus Nord is a milestone of the long-term “FIZ Future” program, in which the company has already invested about 1 billion euros.

Professor Reimund Neugebauer, President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Munich’s Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter, Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Frank Weber, Member of the Board of Management for Development, Ilka Horstmeier, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources, and Manfred Schoch, Chairman of the General Works Council of BMW AG, jointly ramped up the first of a total of 100 ultra-modern test benches on Friday, thus officially opening the progressive building.

Up to 120 construction planners and more than 1,100 workers have been working on the construction site in recent years. The construction planners used virtual simulation methods such as wind simulation and design computing to validate the innovative building design.

“In the FIZ we are working on the future of automobiles every day of the week. This is where we develop the technologies that will shape tomorrow’s mobility and ensure that our premium automobiles provide sustainable pleasure,” said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.

“With the FIZ Nord we are taking the next big step in our transformation process: We are setting up our research and development for the future. It’s going to be digital, fully connected and more agile than ever before to bring the technologies of the future into series production. This will strengthen our role as a high-tech company and at the same time reinforce Germany’s position as a research and development location.”

BMW says that the FIZ complex has over 20,000 servers and a capacity of over 90 petabytes of storage, which corresponds to the data volume of 24 billion smartphone photos of 4 MB each. The daily data exchange from and to the Munich FIZ amounts to 115 terabytes.

For the first time, all drivetrain developers will work together under one roof at FIZ Nord. The more than 2,000 employees of the complete vehicle integration division benefit from being physically close to the many test benches. In the workshop building for test benches and measuring equipment there are 100 test benches and 200 laboratories equipped with the very latest technology.

The FIZ Nord is a major step of the comprehensive and long-term “FIZ Future” urban development program.