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Heidelberg University is getting a new research building to advance the development of innovative engineering science strategies and technologies based on life-inspired molecular systems. The building for “Life-inspired Engineering Molecular Systems” (LEMS) is going up on the Im Neuenheimer Feld Campus and will provide space and infrastructure for an innovative research program at the interface of the engineering sciences, natural sciences and life sciences. The Mannheim and Heidelberg office of the state company Vermögen und Bau is hosting a ceremony to lay the foundation stone on 15 July 2026.
Heidelberg, 13 July 2026
Press Release
Foundation Stone to be Laid for New Research Building
LEMS building creates space for research on engineering of life-inspired molecular systems
Heidelberg University is getting a new research building to advance the development of innovative engineering science strategies and technologies based on life-inspired molecular systems. The building for “Life-inspired Engineering Molecular Systems” (LEMS) is going up on the Im Neuenheimer Feld Campus and will provide space and infrastructure for an innovative research program at the interface of the engineering sciences, natural sciences and life sciences. The Mannheim and Heidelberg office of the state company Vermögen und Bau is hosting a ceremony to lay the foundation stone on 15 July 2026. Also attending, apart from the First Vice-Rector of Ruperto Carola, will be representatives of the Finance Ministry and Science Ministry.
In the context of the Excellence Strategy, Heidelberg University has focused on a new interdisciplinary topic with “engineering molecular systems” – an internationally trailblazing research area – which entails great transfer and translation potential as an innovation driver. This includes, for instance, energy-efficient technologies such as 3D-printed sensors and novel applications in medical diagnosis. The building for “Life-inspired Engineering Molecular Systems”, with its approximately 3,600 square meters of usable floor area, will be used as a collaboration center by researchers from materials science, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and artificial intelligence. The aim is to investigate artificial cell systems that respond autonomously and dynamically, and to develop micro and nanosystems patterned on nature. Such life-inspired systems are not in thermal equilibrium, they change actively, can repair themselves and react to external stimuli. This new type of “engineering” is also to be implemented in technical applications.
The German Science and Humanities Council had recommended the research building to the Joint Science Conference for funding. The project, financed by the German federal government and the Baden-Württemberg state government, has a total budget of approximately 70 million euros. Construction costs account for just under 58 million euros, one quarter of which is being covered by the university. Approximately twelve million euros has been allocated to infrastructure, particularly to provide large-scale research equipment. Construction work is scheduled to be completed by July 2028, so that the LEMS building can go into operation in December 2028.
The ceremony to lay the foundation stone will be opened by Marco Grübbel, director of the Mannheim and Heidelberg office of the state company Vermögen und Bau. The next speakers will be Prof. Kai Fischer, head of department in the Finance Ministry, and Dr Hans J. Reiter, ministerial director in the Science Ministry. Greetings will come from Prof. Dr Andreas Dreuw, First Vice-Rector of Heidelberg University, and Stefanie Jansen, Deputy Mayor of the City of Heidelberg.
Note for newsrooms:
The foundation-laying ceremony is taking place on 15 July 2026 at the building of the European Institute for Neuromorphic Computing, Im Neuenheimer Feld 225, beginning at 2.30 p.m. Media representatives are warmly invited to attend and report.
https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/lems-building-spatial-expression-of-a-... LEMS Project Launch
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