The Bosch Group is expanding its higher education funding and launching a new global initiative by investing a total of 50 million euros to provide support for universities and research projects in Germany, China, India, and the U.S. over the next ten years. The initiative – the Bosch InterCampus Program – aims to achieve lasting improvements in research conditions for undergraduates and scientists in the university sphere, thereby accelerating progress in the highly promising fields of the environment, energy, and mobility. In 2011 alone, Bosch will take on 9,000 university graduates worldwide – 1,200 of them in Germany.
22.8 million euros, and therefore the lion’s share of the total budget, will be spent in India. The ten-year development project aims to set up the independent “Robert Bosch Center for Research in Cyber Physical Systems” at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. Cyber-physical systems will help to save energy in buildings, for instance. The house of the future will know what current energy prices are and the local weather is like, and optimize its energy consumption according to the needs of its occupants. Bosch is creating a campus for IT design, cyber-physical systems, mobility solutions and renewable energy in collaboration with India’s leading scientific institute. “With our funding for higher education in India, we are creating a perfect research and working environment for future IT specialists,” says Vijay Ratnaparkhe, managing
The rapid developments of the last few years in all key technology sectors are also placing enormous demands on business. “By funding science and research, we’re investing not only in the future viability of our company but also in the future of a global society,” says Franz Fehrenbach, chairman of the Bosch board of management. The major challenges include areas such as energy, the environment, and mobility. It is against this backdrop that Bosch has decided to invest more in these research fields. In the InterCampus program, undergraduates and scientists will therefore research into electromobility, energy generation, energy efficiency, and reducing emissions from 2011 onward.
To create the optimum conditions for this, Bosch is setting up new institutes and chairs, expanding those already in existence, and creating networks among universities. The aim is to stimulate a dynamic transfer of knowledge.
