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Bosch associates Christian Kircher (left) and Lothar Baum inspecting an Industry 4.0 production line
Bosch has opened its new research campus in Renningen, near Stuttgart, that aims to push forward interdisciplinary collaboration and create 'successful entrepeneurs'.
The company has invested some €310 million in the new centre for research and advance engineering and will provide a work space for 1,700 researchers previously spread over three locations in the greater Stuttgart area. The academics work across multiple disciplines, including mechanical and electrical engineering, physics, biology and microsystems technology and will collaborate on research including driver assistance systems and Industry 4.0.
At the official opening of the campus German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the Bosch research campus is setting new standards and underscored the significance of applied industrial research. Merkel added: “What you have managed to achieve here is the networking not only of research locations, but also of scientific disciplines.” On a campus such as this, she said, it will be much easier to keep an “eye on the big picture”.
The research campus, whose motto is “Connected for millions of ideas,” is to be the hub of Bosch’s global research and development network. Bosch has said the centre will have a strong focus on entrepreneurship, an area which Dr. Bolkmar Denner, chairman of the Bosch board of management, said Germany has a competitive disadvantage in. “In Germany, there are neither the opportunities nor the willingness to establish companies. Especially among its young university graduates, we need more start-up spirit. In this respect, universities have to do more than prepare their students for exams in highly specialised fields,” said Denner. ““Here, we want our researchers to do more than just think about what the future could bring. We want them to be successful entrepreneurs as well. Renningen is Bosch’s own Stanford.”
Bosch said it paid particular attention to working conditions in Renningen to enhance collaboration. There are individual work places, 270 meeting rooms and wifi connections available in every building and everywhere on the grounds as well as 'voice over internet'. Apart from the main building, eleven laboratory and workshop buildings, and two buildings for site maintenance, there is also a modern proving ground for testing driver assistance systems.
Bosch’s researchers will work on both new products and innovative manufacturing methods at the site. Their work will focus on areas such as software engineering, sensor technology, automation, driver assistance systems, and battery technology, as well as on improved automotive powertrain systems. One area of particular focus will be on developing “significant software expertise – particularly for IoT connectivity”.
Denner said: “For Germany to stay technologically on top of its game in connectivity, it has to preserve and extend the key competencies of microelectronics and software. If it fails to do this, German industry will be left behind. We have no reason to fear competition with IT companies. But for our industrial enterprises, this competition will not be a walk in the park.”
Bosch is currently the global market leader for micromechanical sensors, but has also been extending its software competence and now employs more than 15,000 software engineers, with 3,000 experts working on the internet of things alone.
Further research areas will include; Dr. Andreas Michalowski: Laser materials processing; Joachim Frangen: Manufacturing automation, Industry 4.0; Dr. Martin Schöpf: Manufacturing technology for metals, metal 3D printing and Professor Dr. Amos Albert: Agricultural robotics.