Festive ceremony at Bavarian International School: Groundbreaking for the Creativity & Innovation Center (CIC)
“The new learning heaven”
At the groundbreaking for the Creativity & Innovation Center (CIC), a BIS student coined the phrase of the day. “I am very interested in science and I am sure that the CIC will be my new learning heaven,” said 11-year-old Defne (Grade 6) at the festive ceremony at the Haimhausen Campus, which was also attended by distinguished guests from politics and business.
Together with her schoolmate Dylan from Year 7, Defne filled a time capsule with handwritten letters, the newspaper of the day, an architectural drawing of the CIC and a BIS lanyard. Together with Dachau's District Administrator Stefan Löwl, Haimhausen's Mayor Peter Felbermeier, BMW Vice President Moritz Kippenberger (Global Head of HR Services, Qualification & Recruiting). BIS School Director Dr. Chrissie Sorenson and Marc Aghili (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BIS gAG), the BIS students placed the time capsule in the ground stone and filled it with concrete. This milestone for the Bavarian International School symbolized the start of construction for the future CIC. The new heart of the Haimhausen Campus will be built by fall 2026 and will connect the three-court sports hall with the Primary School. In the future, 750 students from the Secondary School will learn on around 6,200 square meters and three floors under the motto STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths).
In his words, District Administrator (Landrat) Stefan Löwl emphasized the importance of BIS as the only international school in the district and as an important component of a diverse educational landscape. Mayor Peter Felbermeier praised the smooth cooperation and very good neighborly relations between the municipality and BIS. He is very proud to have one of the most prestigious international schools in the area, which makes a valuable contribution to international open-mindedness, democracy and intercultural understanding. Moritz Kippenberger, HR Vice President at BMW, emphasized the importance of an international school for Munich as a business location in order to attract expats from all over the world to the region. BMW and BIS are important partners who share the same values, such as trust, cooperation and innovation.
The school of the future
The Creativity & Innovation Center is a milestone in the further development of BIS as a school of the future and a valuable contribution to the diverse educational landscape in Bavaria. In the future CIC, we will prepare our students for a rapidly changing future with future skills and values better than ever before,” said Dr. Chrissie Sorenson, Head of School and Board Member of BIS. Her fellow board member Marco Dahl added: “We live in times of high speed, digitalization and change. The drastic changes require adapted learning and with the CIC we are creating the perfect environment for this learning of the future.”
The new Haimhausen Campus building will contain ten flexible learning studios, ten science laboratories as well as rooms for design technology, computer science, art, music and a so-called black box as an additional stage - everything is deliberately designed to be open, flexible and interdisciplinary. With the new CIC, the Bavarian International School will significantly improve its learning infrastructure as a true example of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) for contemporary learning environments and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Beacon for modern education
“With the Creativity & Innovation Center, BIS is underlining its role as one of the leading international schools in Germany and Europe. Creating state-of-the-art learning and teaching conditions for the best possible education of global citizens and changemakers increases the interest of local and international families in enrolling their children at BIS. Above all, the CIC is also a strong beacon to attract the best teachers in the world to our school,” said Marc Aghili, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BIS.
Fundraising & financing
The total costs of 25 million euros are financed by bank loans, including KfW funds for energy-efficient construction, while the school raised the necessary equity through donations, financial reserves and state subsidies. In the next stage of fundraising, the BIS team is working on collecting a further million euros in donations to provide the CIC with state-of-the-art equipment, interiors and furniture. The major project should be completed by fall 2026.
