The TUM Catalysis Research Center

Catalysis science represents one of the interdisciplinary key issues of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Since the groundbreaking work of Professor Ernst Otto Fischer (Nobel Prize 1973), catalysis science has been intensified particularly in chemistry and physics, simultaneously including engineering and process technology. 

The Catalysis Research Center is the hub for catalysis science at TUM. It is a platform for the cooperation of prominent researchers with their teams who are focused on a wide range of scientific problems, covering all significant aspects of catalysis from theoretical basics to technology applications. The mission is to create unique inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations in catalysis research and to continuously develop these structures. The CRC’s dynamic and cooperative academic space fosters top scientific performance, generates innovative technology transfer, supports independent junior researchers and gives impulses for catalysis research-oriented teaching at TUM.

Considering the future potential and strategic importance of catalytic processes in numerous fields of science, engineering and industry, the TUM founded the Catalysis Research Center (CRC) in 2008 and assigned it the status of a TUM Corporate Research Center. As an umbrella organization hosting 300 scientists, TUM was awarded a grant for the constructions of a new research building, being situated at TUM Research Campus Garching, adjacent to the TUM Department of Chemistry. The new building is operating since the end of 2015 and enhances the working conditions of researchers by providing the latest laboratory facilities and supporting scientific collaborations of members and partners of the CRC beyond traditional department borders.