Family affairs
About the family bonds in the Technology Park
Closely tied up with the Technology Park: Ana Guilherme and Günter Buzanich © WISTA Management GmbH
Petra and Jörg Israel with son Eric © WISTA Management GmbH
Katrin and Robert Hilbrich © WISTA Management GmbH
The campus in Adlershof is a close-knit place that can feel like family. Just how much is exemplified by the many families that work here in different jobs. What’s that like? Does it create a special kind of community? Better motivation at work? We asked around.
Günter Buzanich, product manager and developer at LLA Instruments GmbH & Co.KG, rarely gets feedback as direct as the following: “Honey, we took measurements today with your detector. It worked a charm.” Casual praise over dinner straight from the mouth of Buzanich’s wife. Both hold PhDs in physics and work in Adlershof. Ana Guilherme Buzanich studied at the University of Lisbon and has been working as a researcher at the Structure Analysis division of Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), where she also works on the BESSY II particle accelerator. It was also over dinner that the two of them had the idea for a multi-channel sensor, which Günter Buzanich promptly developed in cooperation with the team that his wife works in. This was an unusual but intriguing task for the product manager with a penchant for practical developments—and one that benefitted everyone involved.
There is also a lot of cross-pollination between the work of the Adlershof-based Austrian native and his Portuguese spouse—even if their jobs only share few similarities at first glance. “It happens more often than not that we talk about a new academic paper that could be useful for the other over dinner,” says Günter Buzanich, “or about the latest news from Adlershof.” The advantage is that each of them has different contacts that might be useful for the other.
They got to know each other as students during a cooperation event between Technical University Vienna and the University of Lisbon—and fell in love. For their PhDs, they wanted to be in the same place. “Ideally, a place that subsequently offers interesting jobs,” says Günter Buzanich. In 2009, they chose Adlershof. This turned out to be the right decision.
Katrin and Robert Hilbrich are also in agreement about that. “Choosing this location was more of a coincidence,” says Katrin Hilbrich, “since we live in Köpenick, the campus is perfect for us as a family due to the short commute.” But also due to the jobs that kept luring the married couple in, albeit with short interruptions.
Katrin Hilbrich started working here as a student. In 2006, she kicked off her professional career as a development engineer at the company Hymite GmbH. After a short stint in Oberschöneweide, she returned in 2016 when she worked as a development engineer for integrated circuit packing at the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik. Since July, she has been a project head at AEMtec GmbH. Her husband, Robert, studied computer science and got his PhD at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. After many different stints all over Adlershof, he now runs a department of transport research at DLR, the German Aerospace Centre. “We really like being here on campus,” the Hilbrichs say enthusiastically. “There is a lively professional exchange with the other companies. Thanks to the increasingly large variety of places to eat, we also enjoy our lunch breaks much more.” Before the pandemic and working-from-home, the married couple met at Kamee Caffé for lunch every day. “I wouldn’t say that the campus has brought us closer together,” says Katrin Hilbrich. “We talk more about the content of our work than our place of work.”
The Israel family does talk about the site now and again after work. Petra Israel works in sales for ASTI Mobile Robotics GmbH, her husband Jörg is a project developer at WISTA Management GmbH. He is currently kicking off the FUBIC Innovation Campus (Business and Innovation Center next to Freie Universität Berlin Campus). Both have been working here for more than 20 years. As a trained factory planner, Jörg Israel was lured to WISTA to take on the “thrilling and fitting” task of establishing technology centres here in 1992. His wife has been a part of the site’s development since the time when the East German Academy of the Sciences still existed. Adlershof wasn’t responsible for bringing the two together—those sparks had already flown at university. The Israels appreciate that they have different networks that benefit each other. In their free time, the two play volleyball in a team of the Society for the Promotion of Applied Computer Science (GFal) and take part in on-site running events.
The married couple just gave Adlershof another “new addition”: Their son, Eric, will write his thesis on materials development at xolo, a local 3D printing start-up. It is quite possible that the 30-year-old will join the young company afterwards. In a sense, he would follow in his parents' footsteps and nurture the family’s bond with Adlershof. Who would have guessed that family bonds even attract young talent to the site?
Chris Löwer for Adlershof Journal