Miscellaneous  |  04/30/2025

Science in the City – The Institute at its New Location

The Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition has moved to its new location in the center of Munich. Since 1 May 2025, you can find us at Herzog-Max-Straße 4, 80333 Munich – directly at Karlstor/Stachus in the heart of Munich.

The new premises of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition at Karlstor/Stachus in Munich
The new premises of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition at Karlstor/Stachus in Munich
The Karlstor gate in Munich
The Karlstor, adjacent to the Institute
The head of library places the first book in the new library
The head of library places the first book in the new library
The IT team with the server delivery for the new Institute location
The IT team with the server delivery for the new Institute location
Curved spiral staircase as a special connection between the departments
Special connections between the law and economics departments

The central location continues to guarantee excellent connections to the LMU and the Technical University of Munich. This maintains important prerequisites for scientific cooperation, joint teaching and events, as well as the training and supervision of doctoral students.


Good Accessibility in a Central Location


The new location has excellent public transport accessibility. The subway and S-Bahn station “Karlsplatz (Stachus)” is located directly next to the Institute and is served by the subway lines U4 and U5 as well as almost all S-Bahn lines (including S1 and S8 from/to the airport). The connection to the public transportation network makes the new location quickly and easily accessible from the city as well as from the airport or the main train station.


Our special thanks go to:


  • the library, which ensured that researchers had continuous access to the collections despite the logistical challenges of the move,
  • the administration and facilities management, who planned and supported the move with great dedication,
  • and the IT department, which has created a modern infrastructure on which research at the Institute can continue to thrive.

First Events Starting at the End of May


The first event in the new building from 26 to 28 May 2025 was the Munich Summer Institute 2025, which was organized jointly with the Center for Law & Economics at ETH Zurich, the Technical University of Munich, the ISTO at LMU Munich, HEC Lausanne, and Cornell University. It was a successful and also instructive baptism of fire in terms of technical and procedural aspects. Although some pioneering spirit was still called for from the participants, for example to find access through stairwells that were still under construction, the event ran professionally and smoothly. The MPF Start-up School, a start-up initiative of the Max Planck Foundation, was hosted right afterwards. The regular seminars then got underway.


HERZOG MAX presented to the Public in July


On 8 July 2025, the owner and the project developer presented HERZOG MAX, as the building is named, to the public in the presence of representatives from politics, industry and society. Speakers included the Bavarian Minister of Construction Christian Bernreiter (CSU), City Planning Councillor Elisabeth Merk (non-party) and Munich’s Economic Affairs Officer Christian Scharpf (SPD). The successful contribution to the transformation of Munich’s city center was particularly emphasized. This conversion of a vacant former department store into a mixed-use building, which brings more life and work back into the city center, is exemplary for other German city centers. “Research belongs at the heart of society – exactly where we are now with Herzog Max,” said Josef Drexl, Managing Director at the Institute.


You can watch a television report by Matthias Flasskamp on the opening of the new building from “Abendschau - Der Süden” of Bayerischer Rundfunk on 8 July 2025 in the ARD Media Library:


Television Report


We look forward to welcoming you to the new location soon. An Institute opening event with a scientific symposium is in planning for October – we will be reporting.


Updated on 15 July 2025