OTH Regensburg opened its new Innovation Centre for Production and Logistics (IZPL) on 2 December 2025. This state-of-the-art teaching, research and transfer location creates an infrastructure that closely links science, industry and application-oriented teaching and provides decisive impetus for the digitalisation of industrial value creation.
The IZPL is the result of the comprehensive modernisation and expansion of the former ‘Robotics Laboratory’. Over the past three years, around €700,000 in material resources have been invested in this project, raised through funding projects led by Prof. Stefan Galka, the head of the new centre.
More than 60 guests, mainly from regional and national industrial companies, attended the opening.
Strong impetus for research, business and regional innovation
Prof. Dr Oliver Steffens, Vice-President for Research and International Affairs, emphasised the strategic importance of the new centre for the university and the region:
"The IZPL sets new standards for innovation, digitalisation and transfer. With this infrastructure, we are creating a place where our researchers, students and industry partners can work together to develop solutions for the factory of the future. In doing so, we are not only strengthening OTH Regensburg as a research location, but also making an important contribution to the competitiveness of the German economy."
The focus is on research and development in the fields of robotics, digital twins, modern production and logistics systems, and simulation-based planning. The IZPL thus acts as a hub for companies that want to test digital technologies in a practical setting or develop them further together.
Demonstrators provide insights into future technologies
During the opening ceremony, numerous demonstrators were presented, introducing visitors to current research priorities, from robotics and digital factory planning to logistics optimisation.
Among other things, robotics cells with industrial robots were on display. They demonstrate how automated manufacturing and handling processes can be made more efficient in the future. Prof. Galka and his team also presented digital twins that virtually replicate real factory systems. These enable planning decisions to be made more reliably and quickly with the aid of simulations. Logistics demonstrators were also presented. These show, for example, how stocks can be monitored automatically using mobile cameras or how new mechanical transfer stations for driverless transport systems work.
The presentations provided practical insights into how digital technologies can make production and logistics processes more efficient, flexible and sustainable.
‘We are creating an infrastructure for the factory of the future’
Prof. Stefan Galka, Head of the IZPL, emphasises: ‘With the new centre, we are creating an infrastructure that brings together research, teaching and industrial application. The demonstrators on display show how digitalisation and automation can make a concrete contribution to shaping the factory of the future today.’
Prof. Dr. Willibald A. Günthner from the Technical University of Munich and Tobias Traurig, Vice President Global Engineering at Zollner AG, gave welcoming speeches. Günthner, who himself worked at the former Regensburg University of Applied Sciences in Prüfening in the 1990s, praised the continuous development of OTH Regensburg. He said it was particularly important for students to have rooms for practical applications in order to expand their learning. At the same time, he added, it was essential in such a highly competitive environment to have laboratories for application-oriented research.
Tobias Traurig, who himself studied at OTH Regensburg, echoed this sentiment, saying that something great had been created here, both for students and for companies. Among other things, he said, his company is working with the university on the SimUP project, which optimises the planning of production facility relocations.
Prof. Dr Andreas Ellermeier, Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, emphasised the relevance of the IZPL for the practical training of students and for the faculty's research strength.
Future-oriented infrastructure for teaching, research and transfer
With the IZPL, OTH Regensburg is further expanding its position as a high-performance innovation location. The centre offers ideal conditions for testing the latest technologies, training talented individuals and supporting companies in their digital transformation.
