Schwarz Group owner of Lidl and Kaufland has been investing in the region around and in Heilbronn for some time. In the city centre, there is already an educational and scientific district that is constantly expanding and is almost entirely built up and supported by the Dieter Schwarz Foundation. There are universities, schools, kindergartens, start-up incubators and also the science centre Experimenta, which is aimed at children and young people. How much the Schwarz Foundation invests annually in the city is not known.
With a large innovation park for artificial intelligence (AI), the group of companies and the Dieter Schwarz foundation want to leave their mark permanently in Heilbronn. One reason is certainly that Heilbronn is the birthplace of founder Dieter Schwarz and the city is obviously particularly close to his heart.
Now a kind of circular AI district is to be built on about 23 hectares, which should offer space for around 5000 employees. This was announced only a few days ago. Construction is scheduled to begin next year, and the overall project is expected to be completed in around eight to ten years.
Superlatives for the "UFO project" are not spared, Schwarz Gruppe is at the start.
Just a few days ago, all participants presented a design for the 23-hectare district. Currently, there is still agricultural land there. How important and significant the Innovation Park is for the city of Heilbronn could also be seen in the participants who were present at the presentation. These included Moritz Gräter, head of the AI Innovation Park, Schwarz Gruppen boss Gerd Chrzanowski, Minister of Economic Affairs Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, Lord Mayor Harry Mergel and the head of the foundation, Reinhold Geilsdörfer.
The tender for the new concept was won by a Rotterdam architectural firm called MVRDV (a Dutch architectural firm founded in Rotterdam in 1993). The project, which is reminiscent of a UFO, is called "KrAls". This name is derived from the term Kraal. A kraal was originally a circular settlement with a strictly regulated social structure. Kraals are mainly found in southern Africa. A 50-member jury had selected the 9 favorites from 4 designs. The final decision was made by a consortium consisting of the city of Heilbronn, the Group and the Schwarz Foundation. All participants did not spare superlatives at the press conference and the Minister of Economic Affairs, Mrs. Hoffmeister-Kraut, even spoke of "probably the largest world-class AI innovation location in whole Europe."
Displeasure with other cities was inevitable.
The awarding of the new innovation park with the "UFO form" to the city of Heilbronn had already caused displeasure among the defeated cities in Tübingen, Stuttgart and Karlsruhe about two years ago. The design has also prevailed due to its high recognition value. The circular shape will also be easily recognizable on map services such as Google Maps.
The KI-Park Heilbronn will later pay for itself.
The German state is providing a total of 50 million euros. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024 and the opening is planned for 2026. The exact amount, what the whole project should cost, the participants did not say at the last press conference. Overall, the new district will offer space for about 5,000 employees in about 30 buildings. Primarily companies and start-ups that deal with "artificial intelligence" are to settle here. But also restaurants, shops or kindergartens are planned. It is also conceivable that people could temporarily live here themselves. Currently, they are also working on the calculations of CO2 pollution.
Schwarz Group also expects new synergies from the innovation park
This could also be helpful in attracting new specialists for the thousands of positions that the company has to fill in the region around Heilbronn. Currently, there are probably already talks for new partners who want to settle in Heilbronn. The discounter group is also becoming more and more a tech group due to the new promising project. It is also fitting that only a few kilometres north of Heilbronn a separate IT campus is being built for about 5,000 employees.
