„Die Zeichen stehen auf Forschung und ... - Wirtschaftsjournal

ThIMo sets the course
AUTOWELT Eastern Germany 2012
Interview with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Augsburg, spokesman for the "Thüringer Innovationszentrum Mobilität"
(Thuringian Innovation Center for Mobility – ThIMo)
"The forward integration of suppliers
will make them the driving force for the
growth of the automotive sector in the
future. This is a tremendous opportunity
for the Thuringian economy, which is
characterized by small and mediumsized
businesses," says Prof. Klaus
Augsburg, spokesman for the "Thüringer
Innovationszentrums Mobilität").
About the Ilmenau University
of Technology
Approximately 6,750 young
people currently study at the
Ilmenau University of Technology,
around 65% of whom are taking
engineering subjects.
wirtschaftsjournal.de/id12012601
Wirtschaftsjournal: Is the Thuringian automotive
industry competitively positioned at a national level
in the technological field of green mobility?
Prof. Klaus Augsburg: The Thuringian automotive and
automobile supplier industry consists of around 500
companies and provides work for approximately 45,000
em ployees. That equals 4.4 per cent of the working population,
which is well above the federal average for this sector.
Approximately 97 per cent of Thuringian automobile
companies are small and medium-sized. It is a fact that
there is a particular lack of large companies, especially OEMs
and system manufacturers. A shift in value creation within
the supply chain – away from OEMs and towards suppliers –
has already been underway for some time. In future, the
OEMs will only be involved in about twenty per cent of the
value creation in automobile construction, and completely
new forms of cooperation will emerge as a result. This
forward integration of suppliers will make them the driving
force for the growth of the automotive sector in the
future. This is a tremendous opportunity for the Thuringian
economy, which is characterized by small and medium-sized
businesses. In principle, Thuringia is well positioned for this.
However, a large number of companies in Thuringia are
merely production sites, with highly qualified jobs in
research and development being under-represented.
Consequently, the objective must be to significantly in -
crease the level of innovation of the Thuringian automotive
industry. The universities and scientific institutions, and in
particular the ThIMo, will ensure that this sector of industry
receives more stimulus for innovation. In light of indis putable
technological change, leading all the way to alternative
vehicle drives, this support is essential. It will be provided
by means of the methodical competences of the scientific
institutions and will ensure that the qualified, skilled personnel
required in future are secured.
WJ: How will the "Thüringer Innovationszentrum
Mobilität" support the automotive and automobile
supplier industry of the Free State in the future
fields of sustainable mobility?
Prof. Augsburg: Thuringia will play an active part in
shaping the profound global structural change that has
begun in the automotive and automobile supplier industry.
Thuringia has set the course for this by establishing the
ThIMo at the Ilmenau University of Technology. Around 30
departments, i.e. a third of the whole university, are
contributing know-how and scientific equipment, as well
as their networks, to the four future fields of electro mo -
bility, optimization of combustion engines, power trains and
lightweight construction. At the present moment, extremely
modern analysis technology and metrology equipment, as
well as test stands, are already available to the industry at
the ThIMo. So, for example, a unique projection system for
the virtual development of acoustic product and process
characteristics, probably the best equipped brake and
chassis testing center in the whole of Germany and an ex -
cellent equipment pool for the analysis of module and
material properties are available at the ThIMo. Numerous
projects are currently already being implemented together
with the industry in the fields of basic research and
applied research, as well as in the services sector. The
ThIMo’s five industry-driven research groups, which will be
active for three years from the beginning of 2012, will be
of particular importance for the generation of basic
research findings in mobility-related subject areas. Over 50
Thuringian and approximately 40 national and international
companies and scientific institutions currently maintain
a project partnership with the ThIMo.
WJ: What contribution is the ThIMo making to
alleviate the skilled labor situation in the automotive
industry?
Prof. Augsburg: The industry relies on a broad spectrum
of qualified workers. With the highly research and knowledge-intensive
orientation of the automotive industry, there
is an increasing need for graduates with engineering or
scientific degrees. Young scientists receive practical training
at the highest level by working on future-oriented, scien -
tific projects at the ThIMo, which fundamentally have a close
connection to the industry. Students become acquainted
with the company and its working method early on due to
their involvement in projects. This approach should be
likened to an early technical assessment. At the same time,
it ensures that students can use and master state-of-theart
scientific equipment, and in our experience this in creases
the interest of young people in taking an engineering
course. The example of the hugely popular BA/MA course
in automotive engineering at the Ilmenau University of
Technology demonstrates this impressively.
Interviewer: Wolfgang Baltzer
Wirtschaftsjournal | Januar 2012
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