The Robert Bosch Center for Power Electronics, which is to be based in Reutlingen and Stuttgart, constitutes a unique research and teaching network. Over a ten-year period, Bosch and the German state of Baden-Württemberg will invest more than 25 million euros. Power electronics includes modules, components, and systems that are used in areas such as hybrid vehicles, but also in the renewable energy field, where they are part of photovoltaic systems.
“Despite economically difficult times, we are investing in the future, strengthening Germany as a business and educational location, and assuming social responsibility,” says Dr. Wolfgang Malchow, the Bosch board of management member responsible for human resources and social welfare. Collaboration partners are the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences and the University of Stuttgart. In adding power electronics to their curriculum, these universities are now teaching a subject that is important for the region. The agreement will allow excellent professors to be appointed, and attract outstanding applicant from the region and beyond. It also offers the opportunity to establish an internationally recognized institute.
The planned power electronics network comprises a total of seven chairs. Five new chairs will be financed to the tune of more than 25 million euros. Three of them will be created in Reutlingen, while there will be a junior professorship in Stuttgart, and Reutlingen and Stuttgart will share one chair. Bosch is contributing some 12.4 million euros to finance two endowed chairs at the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences. This money will finance the equipment needed to begin teaching, as well as academic and administrative personnel. Bosch will provide an additional in-kind payments worth roughly 2.3 million euros. These might include, for example, experiments in semiconductor manufacturing and the use of laboratory facilities. In all, therefore, Bosch will sponsor this project to the tune of some 15 million euros. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science and Technology will provide some 12 million euros over a ten-year period.
The new center is a logical complement to the Bosch Group's activities in Reutlingen. Dr. Volkmar Denner, the Bosch board of management member responsible for automotive electronics, says: “In Reutlingen, we are investing some 600 million euros in the construction of a new semiconductor manufacturing facility and a testing center. Over the next few years, the location will need highly qualified graduates capable of tackling the challenges for power electronics in areas such as electro-mobility.”
