The Centre for Sensor Systems was founded in 1989 as part of the state government’s “Zukunftsinitiative Montanregionen (ZIM)” (roughly Future Initiative for Mining Regions) as the largest single ZIM project in the Siegen region in the form of a central scientific institution at the University of Siegen.
The basic concept for an interdisciplinary Centre for Sensor Systems was developed back in 1987/88 by Prof Schwarte (Institute for Information Processing) in collaboration with his former colleagues Dr Hartmann and Prof Loffeld: Committed fellow campaigners were sought at the university and funding by the ZIM was proposed.
Professors and scientists from the departments of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and physics were to work together on an interdisciplinary basis, develop new and improved sensors with a practical focus and develop intelligent sensor systems. In this way, they should use their knowledge and expertise to contribute directly to the innovation and improvement of technical products and production processes. Consultancy, research and development projects in cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region should strengthen the competitiveness of industry, support the introduction of new technologies and promote regional structural change.
By integrating research and teaching into the application-oriented objectives of the centre, the considerable gap that was already apparent at the time between university research on the one hand and the implementation of research results in technically and technologically usable innovation on the other was to be closed.
The special structure of our university at the time, with the two study programmes of the more practically oriented “HS I” and the more scientifically oriented “HS II”, as well as the various postgraduate courses, offered advantageous conditions for this.
The concept was well received both regionally and nationally, and after more than 30 years of activity, ZESS can look back on a history of impressive innovations and has now achieved an internationally recognised leading position in some areas of sensor technology. An exceptionally large number of successful projects and the high level of qualification of its graduates are the result of an extraordinary success story.
With this in mind, let us hope that the success of the past will be an incentive for the future!