The Board of Directors of Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG (SIP Ost) appoints Dr. Hans Ebinger as Managing Director on April 1, 2022. As CEO of SIP Ost, it will be his job to set up the innovation park and develop it into a platform that will sustainably strengthen innovative activity and power in Eastern Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
Leader with broad technology experience
Hans Ebinger (1965) studied physics at the Philipps University in Marburg, Germany, followed by a doctorate. After around 13 years in mechanical engineering and vacuum technology, he has been working in the optical industry for more than 11 years. He is currently the CEO of Z-Laser GmbH in Freiburg, Germany, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of lasers for positioning and 3D image processing.
Hans Ebinger is an internationally experienced personality. He performed his professional activities in the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. In the course of his professional career, starting in 2004, he got to know two important clusters in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley: the coating industry around the Oerlikon site in Trübbach/Balzers and the optical industry around the Leica site in Heerbrugg. He has been a member of the board of directors of the RhySearch research and innovation center in Buchs since 2014 and has made a significant contribution to its successful development.
With his positions in mechanical engineering, vacuum technology, precision optics, photonics and sensor technology as well as laser technology, he brings with him a very wide range of technological experience that is highly relevant for the SIP Ost. Hans Ebinger is married and father of 3 children. He lives with his family in Malans and is a Swiss citizen.
The construction of the SIP Ost is a generational project
In spring 2021, the Federal Council decided to include SIP Ost as the sixth site operator in the overall Swiss Innovation Park network. As a result, Switzerland Innovation Park Ost AG was founded on September 2, 2021 by 21 public and private shareholders as a public limited company under private law. The innovation park will be located on the centrally located, easily accessible building complex in Lerchenfeld on Fürstenlandstrasse in St. Gallen, in the immediate vicinity of Empa and the Startfeld hub for young entrepreneurs.
The main goal of the SIP Ost is to generate additional private research and development investments, in this way to strengthen the innovative power of Eastern Switzerland and to create new, attractive and sustainable jobs. The competitiveness of Eastern Switzerland and Liechtenstein is supported by the active networking of business, research and educational institutions in important fields of innovation.
The SIP Ost builds on the existing strengths of the local companies and the scientific institutions in the economic area of Eastern Switzerland. In addition to supporting the machine, electrical and metal industries, he will focus on the rapidly growing health market as well as digitization and new business models.
The construction of the SIP Ost is a generational project. By the end of 2022, the campus will be set up and functional structures will be in place. The SIP Ost should then achieve its full potential by the end of 2025 and break even by 2031.
About Swiss Innovation
Six years ago, the federal government launched the network of the Swiss Innovation Park. “Switzerland Innovation” now has six locations and forms a lively ecosystem of research institutions, established companies and young companies. In addition to St. Gallen, the Lausanne, Biel, Allschwil, Villigen and Dübendorf locations also belong to this network.
The «Switzerland Innovation» network pursues the following main purposes:
- to make the research excellence of Switzerland internationally visible,
- to occupy important fields of innovation in an international comparison and
- Settling research teams from international companies in Switzerland.
For media information
Roland Ledergerber, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ost@switzerland-innovation.com
