Established in Essen in 1927, Haus der Technik (HDT) is the oldest German institution for technologically advanced and further education. It is an external institute of RWTH Aachen University since 1946.

Today HDT is one of the leading hosts for seminars, conferences, part-time Master and Bachelor programs and congresses for senior managerial staff from business, administration, and industry.
Annually, approximately 16.000 participants visit HDT´s facilities in the original company building in Essen and the subsidiaries in Berlin, Munich, and Bremerhaven. Selected events are held not only here, but also on site at national and international enterprises and institutions all over the world.
The original company building in Essen is located centrally, directly opposite the central railway station in downtown Essen. The modern and comfortable conference center comprises over 50 lecturing rooms of different sizes for up to 570 attendees.

HDT's traditional aim has been to present new discoveries in science and technology and to activate knowledge at a higher level as well as to enable the exchange of experiences among experts. HDT disposes of a network of about 5.000 reputed lecturers/speakers.

The diverse activities of Haus der Technik include among others the fields of:

• Energy Economics

• Wind Energy

• Mechanical Engineering

• Automotive Engineering

• Building and Construction Technology

• Business Administration

• Chemical Engineering

• Chemistry

• Civil Engineering

• Electrical Engineering

• Electronics Engineering

• Environmental Protection

• Information and Communications Technology

• Materials Science

• Medical Technology

• Pharmacy

• Power Engineering

• Process Engineering

• Production Technology

• Radiation Protection

• Quality Management

Special in-house seminars provide customized solutions that meet the individual requirements of companies.The department for human potential development assists companies by analyzing the demands for training and further education of employees.

HDT´s R&D department provides failure analyses in materials science. The department´s facilities include modern laboratories, stocked with the latest in analytic equipment.

Master degree programs (Master Logistics and Master Energy Economics) are being offered by HDT in cooperation with partner universities since 2005. The Bachelor degree program Energy Engineering started in 2011.

HDT´s scientific online-journal TM 2.0 (Technische Mitteilungen – Technical Reports) is a resumption of the traditional and renowned printed journal "Technische Mitteilungen" (TM), that was founded as early as 1907.

Apart from being an external institute of the RWTH Aachen University, collaboration agreements exist with the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Westfälische Wilhelms University of Münster, the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn and the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina of Braunschweig. Besides, HDT cooperates with various different research institutions and companies both in and outside of Germany.