It functions as an interface between academic & research institutions, the aviation sector, and the City of Hamburg, aimed at securing and continually expanding the world’s third largest civil aviation location in Hamburg. Working together closely with the aviation cluster, Hamburg Aviation, ZAL bundles the technological competence of the city in a single facility thereby creating synergy. ZAL’s focus is on the integration and industrialisation of aviation technologies. To achieve this, ZAL networks industry and science, establishing an application-oriented innovation culture, and making the very latest research and development infrastructure available to its partners.

Guided by the motto of research and developent “under one roof”, ZAL moved into its own home, the TechCenter, in 2016. With a working area of almost 26,000 square meters, the ZAL TechCenter provides space for around 600 workplaces in offices, laboratories, and hangars. Equipped with a high quality research and test infrastructure for selected aeronautical fields, the facility will drive the industrialization of new technologies.