More than 25,000 visitors came to the Open Day on the new KIT Campus East to obtain an insight in KIT’s future mobility research projects. On an exhibition area of about 2000 square meters, nearly 80 actors presented more than 100 offers for participation and discovery as well as exhibitions and presentations.
On the Open Day, the sky cleared up in time and at 11 hrs already did the first visitors enter the KIT Campus East – Mobility and Innovation in sunshine and at comfortable temperatures. There, KIT scientists, infrastructure units, partner institutions, and sponsors presented a number of guided tours and participation offers. “The Open Day is a great success, to which the many interesting exhibits of our sponsors have also contributed,” emphasized KIT Vice President Dr. Peter Fritz. He pointed out that these exhibits drew the attention of the visitors also to research at KIT. “Events like this Open Day are a good possibility to convey the research conducted by KIT to the region.”
Apart from scientific information, an entertainment program was offered. (Photo: Gabi Zachmann, KIT)
This year’s Open Day was organized under the heading of “Future Mobility”. Centers, institutes, and collaborative research centers presented their work on materials, energy stores and energy sources, power trains and chassis systems, development methods and production technology, vehicle concepts, infrastructures, vehicle navigation and traffic routing, logistics, and mobile society. Information was provided about fundamental research activities as well as about applied research. In addition, concrete “mobility products” were presented: More than 40 presentations and test vehicles, including vehicles with hybrid or electric drives, autonomous vehicles, or a motorcycle with an anti-hopping clutch. 11 vehicles were presented in driving presentations.
Also little researchers have fun on the Open Day. (Photo: Jana Mayer, KIT)
The series of popular scientific presentations was aimed at “explaining science in an understandable manner”. 17 presentations focused on mobility from various perspectives. Among others, KIT Vice President Dr. Peter Fritz answered the question of “where does our electricity for electromobility come from?”
Robert Bosch GmbH, Daimler AG, and Porsche AG supported the Open Day as main sponsors.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.