We are shaping the transformation
towards a sustainable economy.

To achieve this, we take a holistic
and interdisciplinary research approach
to innovative technologies and business models.

What we do

We connect ecosystem actors to provide a holistic view on smart systems.

At ZESS, we have a clear mission: to generate knowledge about smart systems, their mode of action and design as well as their implementation, and the change processes required to do so. Knowledge and technology transfer therefore play an important role at our research center, and transdisciplinary work shapes our everyday lives.

The three pillars of our work:

Research: We conduct pioneering research in the field of smart systems, approaching the topic from the perspective of engineering and social sciences.

Networking: We connect stakeholders from science, industry and administration to exchange ideas and collaborate.

Transfer: We share our knowledge with companies and empower them to operate more sustainably in the long term.

1 2 3 4

floors

5000

sqm area

university chairs

10+

joint research projects

million euro investement

Who we are

From high-performance lasers to well-being: we unite expertise from
14 fields of engineering and social sciences under one roof.

Chair of Work, Organizational and Business Psychology

Knowing and understanding the goals and motives of all human actors and stakeholders is a central task in servitization.

Website of the chair

Chair of Digital Communication Systems

We are researching radio-based networking of smart systems.

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Chair of Hybrid Additive Manufacturing

We want to leverage the multi-layered potential of additive manufacturing to generate added value across products and processes.

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Chair of Human Centered Design

Interdisciplinary exchange is central to our efforts to understand human-robot interactions and design them in a way that is optimized for humans.

Website of the chair

Institute of Organizational Management

We research competencies, roles and leadership in value creation networks in order to understand and support the challenges of transformation.

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Computing in Engineering

Digital servitization in construction means planning digitally, building automatically and operating smartly.

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Chair of Industrial Sales and Service Engineering

We research digital servitization and develop methods and tools for service innovation.

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Applied Laser Technologies

We integrate robot-assisted additive and subtractive manufacturing into a single system to diversify conventional production methods.

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Chair of Digital Engineering

We conduct research into development tools and mixed reality support for the engineering of product service systems.

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Product Development

Our product development focuses on the interaction between humans and technology.

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Chair of Production Systems

We master technologies such as robotics, AI and additive manufacturing and use them to develop successful business models.

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Chair of Automatic Control and Systems Theory

We are researching drones for fully autonomous use in industry.

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Chair of Security Engineering

We are researching how to effectively protect hardware from physical threats.

Website of the chair

What motivates us

Smart systems are the answer to the change processes of our time: digitalization, servitization and green transformation.

With the help of innovative business models, human-centred work systems and intelligent technologies, industrial companies and their associated ecosystems create responsible value through smart systems. We want to understand smart systems in this context and derive design and transformation knowledge for practical application – in the spirit of the RUB mission statement "Built to Change"

More about our research approach