KARL STORZ Company Archive and Interactive Museum: A Tour of the Construction Site Provides Insights into the Future Concept

Tuttlingen, 8/27/2019: In the presence of the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Dr. Susanne Eisenmann, the Minister of Justice and European Affairs, Guido Wolf, and Mayor Michael Beck, Dr. Sybill Storz presented the concept of the future KARL STORZ Company Archive and Interactive Museum, whose construction phase will be completed in mid-2020.

"With the establishment of the Company Archive and Interactive Museum, we are pursuing three important goals: First, the Company Archive will present the factors that have made us a quality supplier throughout our over 70 years of history, our tradition, and the fact that our tradition is the basis for realizing viable innovations in medical technology, both today and in the future. Second, we would like to add another platform to our wide-ranging efforts to spark young people’s enthusiasm for the sciences. The Interactive Museum is intended to get children and youth involved in technology through exciting experiments. Scientific phenomena are not locked away behind glass, but instead, our concept focuses on doing hands-on experiments and experiencing science firsthand. This is an investment in the talents of future generations. Our third goal is to combine tradition and the future: for that purpose, we are connecting the Company Archive and Interactive Museum by another exhibition area. We will use this exhibition area to present the history of endoscopy from its origins to today. This area connects the building sections, not only spatially but also in terms of content. Among other things, it presents the technical legacy of my father, who did pioneer work as a Tuttlingen entrepreneur in establishing endoscopy in its current form", explained Dr. h. c. mult. Sybill Storz.

The Interactive Museum will be located on the Danube side (on Nendinger Allee). There, the old structures of former company and residential buildings along the Danube will be sensitively combined with modern architecture to create new exhibition spaces, explained architect Felix Aries on the tour of the construction site. The Interactive Museum will offer the areas mathematics, motion, insights, and perspectives. A separate area will focus on the youngest visitors aged 4 through 8 years. Experiments and exhibits will be developed in collaboration with Professor Albrecht Beutelsbacher from the Mathematikum Gießen science museum. "Offering regular opening hours, the Interactive Museum is aimed at children, youths, and adults who have fun researching and exploring technology", added Dr. Sybill Storz.

"The Interactive Museum is a new learning platform intended to inspire a love of science in students outside of the classroom. I very much welcome this idea since we are always looking for extracurricular learning centers that meaningfully complement our schools’ educational mission. As soon as the Interactive Museum is built, we will determine how we can support it", stated Dr. Susanne Eisenmann after the tour.

The Interactive Museum will be connected by a passageway to the former company headquarters on Mittelstrasse. At the former headquarters, KARL STORZ products, catalogs, marketing brochures, and medical publications from over seven decades will be presented by specialty area. As an important research archive, the Company Archive will be open by appointment to KARL STORZ employees as well as medical history researchers, medical associations, and universities.

"The KARL STORZ concept of combining industrial history with learning impulses for young people is unique. I am certain that it will attract interest far beyond the Tuttlingen region", believes Guido Wolf, Minister of Justice and member of state parliament.