annual report - FIAT SpA

RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
Promoting sustainable mobility on multiple fronts, Fiat Group's research and innovation activities are conducted
through Centro Ricerche Fiat (CRF) and Elasis.
Following the demerger of activities from Fiat S.p.A., CRF remained within Fiat Group post Demerger. To guarantee
continued support to Fiat Industrial, a number of researchers working on specific projects were transferred to Fiat
Industrial and service agreements entered into in relation to the contribution to the research and development activities
of individual sectors.
Elasis, whose design and development activities were already coordinated at sector level, recently transferred its
technical activities to the sectors. It retains responsibility for management of the Pomigliano research facility, which will
continue to host resources and laboratories allocated to the sectors.
Development activities are primarily carried out in collaboration with the sectors.
In 2010, expenditure on Research & Development 1 totaled approximately €1.9 billion, equivalent to 3.5% of net
revenues for the Group's Industrial Activities. In total, R&D activities involve some 14,200 specialized personnel at 113
centers.
CENTRO RICERCHE FIAT (CRF)
Profile
CRF was established in 1978 as the Group’s center of expertise in innovation, research and development. Now an
internationally recognized center of excellence, CRF’s mission is to utilize innovation as a strategic lever for the
Group’s businesses through the development and transfer of innovative content that makes the Group’s products both
competitive and distinctive.
In addition to its principal center in Orbassano (on the outskirts of Turin), CRF has three other centers located in Bari,
Trento and Foggia, and Centro Ricerche Plast-Optica in Udine (which it has controlled since 2002), a facility focused
on advanced research in plastics and optics for automotive lighting systems. In 2010, the Group Materials Labs was
created with laboratories located in Turin, Venaria Reale and Bologna. In addition, following the merger of CSST S.p.A.
into CRF, the Transport Systems Research Center unit was created with operations in Orbassano (near Turin) and
Pomigliano D'Arco (near Naples). With 949 employees, CRF draws on a broad base of technical skills, as well as a
series of state-of-the-art laboratories for testing powertrain systems and electromagnetic compatibility, conducting NVH
analyses and driving simulations, and developing materials, production processes, opto-electronics and microtechnologies.
CRF has achieved significant results over the years, as demonstrated by the 35 new patent applications filed in 2010,
bringing the total number of patents it holds to approximately 3,200, plus a further 450 patents currently pending. At the
international level, CRF had more than 41 projects approved in 2010 under the EU’s Seventh Framework Program for
2007-2013, bringing the total of active projects under this Program to 114. Its status as a well-established European
research center together with its recognized know-how and extensive presence throughout Italy have also led to its
participation in many public-private partnerships (PPPs) set up to focus public and private research on areas of
common interest and on industrial applications both in Italy and at the European level (Green Car Initiative, Factories of
the Future). CRF has also developed a global network of more than 160 universities and research centers, and over
1,500 industrial partners around the world. This network strengthens the center’s global innovation strategies and
facilitates local implementation of specific projects, as well as ensuring creation of know-how and continuous
monitoring to enhance competitiveness and further development in areas such as vehicles and vehicle components,
energy, safe and ecological mobility, telematics, innovative materials and related technologies, mechatronics and
optics, together with innovation in the area of engine technologies, alternative propulsion systems and transmissions
(through the Powertrain Research and Technology unit of FPT Powertrain Technologies).
Further information is available at www.crf.it.
Focus
Particularly active in the field of mobility, CRF applies a systematic, 360 degree approach to the study of innovative
solutions: the winning strategy is to be flexible in employing the best resources available to achieve mobility that is
socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. Indeed, no single solution is relied upon, but rather a constant
commitment to optimizing vehicles and engines, both through research into solutions that improve the efficiency of
1 Includes capitalized R&D expenditure and R&D charged directly to profit and loss for the year.
Report on Operations Research and Innovation
26