The TUM Campus Heilbronn is gaining a unique, interdisciplinary profile at the interface of management and informatics. The field of information engineering will play a key role: New digital technologies are opening up more and more ways for companies to capture, network and analyze information. Information engineering looks at the entire chain, from the sensor to the IT system through to the business model, and is thus an important building block in the digital transformation. The research will be linked via interdisciplinary cooperation to the management chairs at the campus that study how companies can shape the far-reaching and rapid technological transformation – one of the crucial questions for Germany's economic future. The focus will be on technology start-ups and family enterprises that shape the identity of the Heilbronn-Franconia region with many "hidden champions".

In this successful high-tech region, TUM is educating young graduates ideally prepared to work at technology-driven companies. The range of degree options at the campus, which now offers one bachelor's and two master's programs centered around management sciences, is to be expanded to include a new bachelor's and master's program in information engineering. In addition, TUM plans to introduce a master's program for working professionals and new MBA programs combining management and information technology.

"We're delighted that the Dieter Schwarz Stiftung has again shown their trust and is expanding one of the most important endowments in the history of higher education in Germany," said TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann. "With the new professorships, we are creating an outstanding academic program in Heilbronn, combining informatics and management sciences, that will be unrivalled in Germany. It represents an important contribution to shaping the digital transformation. In this way, in times of the coronavirus pandemic, we are delivering power impetus to help secure future employment and prosperity in our country."

"To strengthen tomorrow's society and economy, we need extraordinary innovations in the field of informatics, which will fundamentally transform our future working world," explains Prof. Reinhold R. Geilsdörfer, the Managing Director of the Dieter Schwarz Stiftung. "The 11 additional endowed professorships will contribute to the study of the transformation processes in our region and support companies in the digital transformation."

TUM is among the international leaders in informatics. For example, it ranks 18th in the respected World University Rankings, compiled by Times Higher Education, which rates research performance, among other criteria. Students at TUM also give top ratings to the teaching programs and the study conditions (CHE Rankings). With around 45 professorships, TUM’s Department of Informatics has undergone highly dynamic growth in recent years and, with 6,600 students, is now the university's largest department.

One of its strengths is the close networking with engineering, natural, life and social sciences. Consequently, a strong foundation is in place for the planned cooperation with management sciences in Heilbronn. Several degree programs are jointly operated and various professors are members of both departments, such as Prof. Helmut Krcmar, the founding dean of TUM Campus Heilbronn.