Dresden: VW's "Transparent Factory" becomes an innovation campus

The parties involved have signed a letter of intent (LoI) to this effect. Among other things, this provides for Volkswagen to provide Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden) with extensive space in the factory, which opened in 2002. Over the next seven years, both partners will invest a total of more than 50 million euros in research, technology development and four new endowed professorships. In addition, the GMD will remain a Volkswagen delivery and research location as well as a world of experience.

With the realignment of GMD, Volkswagen is implementing one point of the "Future Volkswagen" program agreed with the employee representatives a year ago. This program provides for vehicle production in Dresden to be phased out at the end of this year. Technical production capacities across Germany will be reduced by more than 730,000 vehicles per year by 2028. In addition, the company and the Works Council had agreed to cut 35,000 jobs at Volkswagen's German sites by 2030 in a socially responsible manner. The aim of these measures is to ensure the competitiveness and future viability of the VW brand. In return, job security has been agreed for all employees of Volkswagen AG and Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH until 2030.

Thomas Schäfer, CEO of the Volkswagen brand: "We did not take the decision to end vehicle production at the Gläserne Manufaktur after more than 20 years lightly. From an economic point of view, however, it was absolutely necessary. It is therefore all the more important that we have been able to develop a viable future concept for the site in recent months - with a clear perspective for the coming years. Together with TU Dresden, we are transforming the Manufaktur into a place where mobility, technology and science come together."

The schedule for the Gläserne Manufaktur envisages that the ID.3 production line will first be dismantled from January 2026. Preparations are also being made to convert the building into an innovation campus. The first joint research projects on topics such as artificial intelligence, robotics, microelectronics and chip design with TU Dresden will begin in mid-2026, with regular operations starting in 2027. In the future, TU Dresden will use almost half of the space in the Gläserne Manufaktur.

Prof. Dr. Ursula M. Staudinger, Rector of the TU Dresden: "We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Saxon State Government for its intensive support and the confidence it has shown in the University of Excellence TU Dresden. We would also like to thank the VW Group, with whom we will be linked by close research cooperation in the future, which will be expressed, among other things, in the establishment of four endowed professorships, junior research groups and joint research projects for the next seven years. The TU Dresden will set up the InnoX Campus based on the model of Station F in Paris. A place where excellent research and practice-oriented transfer will be bundled together with our partners in the DRESDEN-concept Alliance and in close cooperation with strategic corporate partners in key technologies such as microelectronics, artificial intelligence, robotics, materials research, chip design, sustainable mobility and recycling science with a strong focus on industrial applications."

In addition to the strategic partnership with TU Dresden, the Gläserne Manufaktur will remain a Volkswagen delivery and research center as well as a world of experience. After the Autostadt in Wolfsburg, the GMD is the second largest delivery location for Volkswagen in Germany. This year alone, around 3,500 vehicles will be delivered to customers there together with the dealership partners.

With more than 100,000 visitors a year, the Manufaktur is one of the attractions of the city of Dresden and brings people into contact with Volkswagen products and the topic of vehicle construction. The open InnoXcampus concept aims to offer visitors an insight into the future topics of automotive engineering, robotics and artificial intelligence.