The History of the Campus Vienna Biocenter

The Life Sciences are one of the most research-intensive areas worldwide and have an enormous growth and innovation potential. The Campus Vienna Biocenter represents for Vienna a venue of international renown, which combines not only scientific institutions but also companies with a background in biotechnology and medical technology and organisations specializing in scientific communication; it provides jobs and research opportunities for hundreds of scientists from more than forty different countries.

The history of the Campus Vienna Biocenter dates back to the 1980s. The first important milestones were the foundation of the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), the location of its premises in Dr.-Bohr-Gasse in 1988 and the location of university institutes in its immediate vicinity in 1992, which had already been agreed upon at the time of the IMP’s foundation. Other key developments were the foundation of the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) as a joint venture of the University of Vienna and the Medical University in 2005 and the inauguration of the Life Science Center of the Austrian Academy of Sciences with the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) and the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI) at the Campus Vienna Biocenter in 2006.  

The research project dealing with the history of the Campus Vienna Biocenter analysed the Biocenter’s impact on the universities and on Vienna as a location of research and innovation as well as the interplay between scientific activity, the activities of biotech firms and the science policies of the City of Vienna and the Federal Government of Austria.