Innovation and Technology

Optical technologies pave the way for many innovations in numerous industries.

Innovation Shapes the Future

Innovation is a way of life at ZEISS. You might even say it is in the company's genes.

At ZEISS, innovation is always put in the context of society as a whole. All innovations aim to ensure that future customer needs related to products, services, solutions and business models are met, and that they offer added value and benefits. They no longer deal only with the development of new products, but also aim to enable a new kind of management and new business models.

"Optical technologies are key technologies for our future. Their technical and scientific applications will increasingly impact our everyday lives in the years ahead.

Dr. Karl Lamprecht, President and CEO of ZEISS

Optical technologies are important in the life sciences, medicine, IT, telecommunications, the automotive and consumer industries, as well as many other areas. Innovation is part of the ZEISS strategy and is anchored in the corporate identity. It is the foundation of the ZEISS Group's continued growth. That is why ZEISS invests 13 percent of its revenue in research and development. ZEISS has a long tradition of similarly high expenditures for research and development, which also represent our investment in the future. The research and development teams at ZEISS are working hard to continually advance our leadership in the field of technology.

ZEISS Stories
Physicist Michael Totzeck
Research at ZEISS is in a position to shape the future – and it’s set to do just that. Michael Totzeck sees great opportunities in one particular area: quantum applications.
Rat cortical primary culture imaged with the ZEISS Celldiscoverer automated microscopy platform.
Illuminating insights for laboratories, operating rooms, and dental practices: how medicine and research can benefit from fluorescence technology.
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography
Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography is nearly ready for high-volume microchip manufacturing in production fabs. This method will make future technological applications possible.

Three key success factors for ZEISS

Erfolgsfaktor Mitarbeiter
Highly qualified employees

Innovative products can only be developed and produced by highly qualified and motivated staff. ZEISS therefore places great emphasis on the careful selection of its employees, offers targeted training programs and provides an attractive working environment. This includes in particular the positive, respectful way in which colleagues treat each other to ensure that everyone can perform at their best in their everyday work.

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Netzwerke und Partnerschaften
Networks and partnerships

The complexity of innovations will continue to rise in the future. The required competencies can only be bundled within strong networks. ZEISS therefore works closely with its partners from industry and science in research and development, and in the supply chain.

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Courage and sustainable investments
Courage and sustainable investments

Constant, above-average investments in R&D and infrastructure enable ZEISS to leverage the dynamic of the markets. In recent years, ZEISS has invested a great deal in expanding its sites and will continue to do so. For instance, ZEISS is continuing to expand its founding site in Jena by adding a new, integrated high-tech complex as a leading innovation site

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Shaping markets with innovations

Through a process of trial and error in optical production, Carl Zeiss wrote the history of the high-tech group of companies founded back in 1846. Ernst Abbe, business partner to the company founder, turned the method into a systematic, scientific technique.

This marked the beginning of more than 170 years of ongoing innovation at the company's parent site in Jena, Group headquarters in Oberkochen and at many other development and production locations all over the world.

ZEISS stands for technology and innovation leadership and aspires to shape markets through innovation.

ZEISS is creating the framework required to ensure that it can continue to develop market-shaping innovations in the future – both for the company itself and for every single employee.

Promoting Innovation
Awardwinners
ZEISS Colloquium
ZEISS Symposium

New Business

Shaping the future of ZEISS

ZEISS has launched special, cross-divisional activities in order to further speed up the company’s digital transformation and set up new business.

ZEISS Digital Partners

ZEISS Digital Partners, a newly formed unit within the ZEISS Group. They have a clear goal: to enable and accelerate ZEISS’s digital transformation @speed and @scale. They are developing digital solutions jointly with the ZEISS business groups and are accelerating innovation that delivers a future value for our customers and our company.

ZEISS Ventures

ZEISS launches dedicated ventures to enable entrepreneurs to realize their ambitions in originating, developing, and commercializing market-shaping innovations for global markets.

ZEISS Innovation Hub @ KIT (in English)

Innovation Hub is turning today’s research into tomorrow’s applications by teaming up scientists, students, entrepreneurs, industry experts and end-users. It is located at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, one of Germany’s leading technical universities at the heart of a thriving local innovation ecosystem.

Experience innovation

Find out more about the development of key products and technologies, and about the history of ZEISS optical systems.

Discover the history of ZEISS

Details on over 170 years of company history, on the founders, technical milestones and most important ZEISS innovations are available on our history pages.