13.11.2009
New Robert Bosch Center for Power Electronics

Baden-Württemberg is getting a new center for power electronics. The state government has given the green light to a unique new form of collaboration between business and academia in Germany. The alliance between Robert-Bosch GmbH, the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences and the University of Stuttgart has set its sights on the future development of innovative modules, components and systems, such as for hybrid and electric vehicles as well as for use in the renewable energy field as part of photovoltaic systems.

The new Robert Bosch Center for Power Electronics will be based in Reutlingen and Stuttgart. The Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences will offer a new Master´s degree in power electronics and expand its degree course in mechatronics. The University of Stuttgart also intends to beef up its Master´s degree course in “electrical engineering and information technology” by adding a new focus on power electronics. This exemplary research and teaching network will set up a joint PhD programme in both universities which will enable graduates from the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences to study for doctoral degrees at the University of Stuttgart. “The PhD programme is the heart of the new institute”, according to Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, Prof. Dr. Peter Frankenberg. The new alliance is a perfect example of the strength of applied research in the universities of applied sciences. The state will offer up to eleven scholarships in the new programme.

Baden-Württemberg’s state government will contribute around 12 million euros and Bosch 12.4 million euros to setting up the new institute with a total of five new professorial posts and jobs for research assistants. Bosch will also contribute around 2.3 million euros for the use of its laboratory facilities at its Reutlingen factory. All in all Bosch in Reutlingen intends to invest around 600 million euros in the near future in the construction of new semiconductor production and a new test center.