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Research - 21.01.2025 - 09:00 

“auto-schweiz” creates a professorship of Mobility Management at the University of St.Gallen

At the end of 2024, auto-schweiz and the University of St.Gallen signed a funding agreement in the amount of CHF 2.68 million to finance a professorship for Mobility Management. The funding is expected to cover a period of eight years and the University will soon begin the process of finding someone to fill the new ”auto-schweiz Chair of Mobility”.

The University of St.Gallen (HSG) and auto-schweiz, the association of official automobile importers in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein, are entering into a long-term partnership. “auto-schweiz” is providing a total of CHF 2,680,000 over the next eight years to finance a professorship for research and teaching in the field of mobility management, which will cover 50 per cent of the costs. The other contractual partner is the HSG Foundation, which will receive the donation as the central funding body of HSG. “HSG is one of the most progressive and innovative business universities in Europe,”says Peter Grünenfelder, president of auto-schweiz. “At the same time, the automotive industry is the engine of the economy and, with its unshakable belief in the future, invests billions of francs every year in research and development of new technologies. Our cooperation and the research into future topics at HSG is therefore nothing but consistent. With the new auto-schweiz Chair of Mobility, mobility, as one of the most important Swiss economic sectors, will receive sound scientific support in overcoming current and future challenges.”

The partnership enables HSG to develop additional capacities and expertise in the field of mobility management, where important questions for the future arise. The Chair includes an assistant and a secretarial position (100 and 50 per cent respectively). “HSG relies on such partnerships to fulfil its aspiration of being a leading international business university,” says Prof. Dr. Manuel Ammann, President of HSG. ”We are very grateful to auto-schweiz for supporting us in developing future-oriented solutions for an optimal interaction with all kinds of  mobility solutions ”HSG only enters into such partnerships if the freedom of research, teaching and publication is fully guaranteed at all times. Accordingly, auto-schweiz will not influence the appointment process or the content of the work to be carried out by the new Chair.

The Chair will be based at the Institute for Mobility (IMO-HSG). ”We intend to conduct even more in-depth research into a range of topics. These include the transformation of the automotive industry, new business models for an autonomous and networked world of mobility and looking deeper into9  mobility needs in cities and rural areas. The exact thematic orientation of the professorship will of course depend on the appointment,” explains Prof. Dr. Andreas Herrmann, Director of IMO-HSG.


Image (from left to right): Thomas Rücker (Director of auto-schweiz), Peter Grünenfelder (President of auto-schweiz), Manuel Ammann (President of the University of St.Gallen), Andreas Herrmann (Director of IMO-HSG)

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