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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Trucks, trailers, farm machinery, tractors, construction machinery: The high-tech inner life of these motorized heavyweights is the focus of the new innovation cluster "Digital Commercial Vehicle Technology", which is being opened today by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the state government of Rheinland-Pfalz, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with a ceremony held at the Fraunhofer Center in Kaiserslautern. The goal of this research initiative is to create a tighter connection between development, planning, and manufacturing processes and the usage, monitoring, and maintenance of such vehicles.
The concept of innovation clusters has already proven itself well in other high-tech areas. Under the motto "Success Built on Cooperation - A faster route from ideas to products", the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft has so far founded six innovation clusters in different technological areas. Just like the cluster now being founded in Kaiserslautern, they constitute a platform for cooperation among researchers and engineers from universities, research institutions, and industrial companies. They are a part of the pact for research and innovation made by the federal and state governments in 2005 with research institutions outside the universities in order to further expand the competitiveness of German research.
"The scientific core of the innovation cluster "Digital Commercial Vehicle Technology" is formed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM. On the part of industry, participants include DaimlerChrysler AG, the Volvo Group, John Deere, Robert Bosch GmbH, Haldex brake products GmbH, MB-technology GmbH as well as Schmitz Cargobull AG", says the director of the cluster, Dr. Klaus Dreßler.
"Bundling the competencies of Fraunhofer ITWM and Fraunhofer IESE makes it possible to embark on new paths in virtual product development and quality assurance. In the innovation cluster, we will jointly develop new solutions for competition-relevant challenges encountered by the commercial vehicle industry", stated Dieter Rombach at the opening event.
For the state government of Rheinland-Pfalz, it is particularly significant to further expand the already existent economic potential in the area of commercial vehicles, to promote new product ideas, and, based on this, to secure jobs in the long term, respectively create new jobs. Until 2010, the cooperation project will have a total budget of 10 million euros; in addition, it is made to last indefinitely. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the state of Rheinland-Pfalz will each contribute 3 million euros; industry will contribute 4 million euros. Furthermore, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has funded the preliminary phase in Kaiserslautern with 0.7 million euros.
Doris Ahnen, minister for education, science, youth, and culture, pointed out that, with the innovation cluster "Digital Commercial Vehicle Technology", the two Fraunhofer Institutes for Experimental Software Engineering and for Industrial Mathematics will bundle the research and development competencies of science and industry in the Kaiserslautern region with the objective of achieving tighter integration of development and manufacturing processes with the usage and monitoring of commercial vehicles "Such a platform for exchange and cooperation between researchers and developers from universities, research institutions, and companies provides an excellent option for further development of this region", said Ahnen.
With its tasks and objectives, the new cluster will perfectly integrate itself into the research landscape of Kaiserslautern as a center of technology and science. "The scientific development in Kaiserslautern is a one-of-a-kind success story and proves that investments into science and research are investments into the future", the minister declared.
Minister of Economic Affairs Hendrik Hering welcomed the fact that the competitiveness of the commercial vehicle industry, which is so important for Rheinland-Pfalz, will be further strengthened by the innovation cluster. "The initiative picks up on the activities of the already existent commercial vehicle cluster and complements them." Based on the initiative of the Ministry for Economic Affairs, the University of Kaiserslautern, and DaimlerChrysler AG, the Commercial Vehicle Cluster Südwest, abbreviated CVC, was initiated in the fall of 2005. This cluster in southwest Germany aims at bridging the gap between science and industry. CVC and the new innovation cluster will be closely intertwined.
The proportion of IT systems and the use of computer science and simulation during vehicle development and production are constantly increasing. "Therefore, I expect that this research and development cluster will make a major contribution to increasing the competitiveness and competence of our industrial companies in this region along the entire value chain", the minister continued. CVC and the new innovation cluster would therefore receive support. Additional state instruments for promoting industry, such as technology promotion for individual companies, promotion of innovation assistants, or the founder's support program FiTour would be employed as flanking measures.
The current project activities of the Fraunhofer institutes involved, together with companies from the commercial vehicle domain, constitute the basis for the completely practice-oriented work of the new innovation cluster. Fraunhofer ITWM will mainly concentrate on processes for virtual product development. Currently, projects are running at the institute with a series of well-known commercial vehicle manufacturers from the region, focusing on the topic of "Vehicle Simulation under Operating Stress". This includes, for example, calculations on the lifespan of a tractor-trailer axle; different axle connections are compared here to decide which variant will be built as a prototype. In the area of rail vehicles, ITWM has developed software for an undercarriage monitoring crosstie, which detects and reports overheated axle bearings and frozen brakes on passing trains.
Fraunhofer IESE is focusing on the realization of zero-defect software in the area of development and product planning. Since its founding in 1996, Fraunhofer IESE has maintained intensive collaboration with well-known manufacturers and suppliers in the commercial vehicle domain. Topics focus on supporting manufacturers in efficiently realizing software for various vehicle variants, in improving the diagnosability of the vehicles, and in efficiently detecting software defects in control units prior to production.
Further information on the topics and on the work of the innovation cluster can be found at http://www.nutzfahrzeugcluster.fraunhofer.de.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE
Fraunhofer IESE in Kaiserslautern currently has about 200 employees who perform research in the areas of software development, software quality management, and software competence management. Together with its sister institute in the USA, Fraunhofer IESE offers processes, methods, and techniques for developing software-based systems according to engineering-style principles. In doing so, it follows an empirical approach: Through proven, innovative solutions, products based on software can be brought to the market with a measurably higher degree of efficiency.
The customers of Fraunhofer IESE come from domains where products are dominated by software: automotive and transportation systems, telecommunications, telematics and service providers, medical systems, as well as information systems and applications in the public sector. The institute provides support to companies of any size - from international corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises. The public sector also plays an important role as a project partner.
Fraunhofer IESE, which was founded in 1996, is directed by Prof. Dieter Rombach and Prof. Peter Liggesmeyer. It is one of 56 institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, which, as the largest applied research organization in Europe, contributes to national and international competitiveness.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM
The core competencies of ITWM are the classical disciplines of applied mathematics, such as numerics, differential equations, stochastics, and optimization. These are complemented by mathematically-oriented theoretical topics that have emerged as border areas between mathematics and technology. Using these core competencies, ITWM has, to date, worked on almost 300 projects in its business areas "Virtual Material and Product Design", "Process Simulation", and "Diagnostic Systems".
Products range from know-how poured into software via consulting and support offers to system solutions. ITWM does not only use simulation software, it also develops it itself, often in collaboration with leading software companies. ITWM does not only want to build a bridge between the real world and the virtual world, but also wants to be a link between university mathematics and its practical application. Therefore, its close connection to the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kaiserslautern plays a special role for ITWM.
Currently, Fraunhofer ITWM has 150 employees (including 90 scientists). The director of the institute is Prof. Dieter Prätzel-Wolters. It is one of the 56 institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, which, as the largest organization for applied research in Europe, contributes to national and international competitiveness.
http://www.iese.fraunhofer.de/presse
http://www.nutzfahrzeugcluster.fraunhofer.de
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