New Agreement to Drive Advanced Automotive R&D And Education Projects In Italy
 |
TURIN, ITALY, March 30, 2009: GM today, together with Politecnico di Torino and Regione Piemonte, announced an important Accordo di Programma, a frame work agreement on the development of world-leading sustainable mobility, research and education projects in the region.
Speaking today during the GM Symposium Diesel fuels the future, GM Powertrain Europe Vice President Mike Arcamone announced the Accordo and thanked GM’s academic partner and the Regione for their support.
“The Accordo recognizes the important contribution GM has made to Torino and reaffirms our commitment to advanced engineering, education, research and development in Italy,” Mr Arcamone said.
“We are proud to say around 60 per cent of the GM employees in Turin are graduates of Politecnico di Torino. We hope through projects such as those outlined in the Accordo that GM can continue to play this important role in developing the next generation of automotive engineers.
“The Accordo also underlines that now, more than ever, it is critical for industry, academic institutions and the government to work together and help make future sustainable mobility a reality,” he said.
Dean of Politecnico di Torino, Professor Francesco Profumo, added his support to the alliance: “In the past few years we have started to build the idea of a new ‘university’, proposing a new strategy in the region which has seen the innovation of new technology and production processes and created new specialized professional and employment opportunities.
“In this way Cittadella Politecnica is adding real value to the technological and entrepreneurial endeavors in the region. With this vision in mind we have undertaken this new Accordo with GM which gives us even greater potential to collaborate in areas that are important for us and for the region,” Professor Profumo said.
The Accordo aims to realize the following important initiatives:
The blueprint for the Institute of Automotive Research and Education builds on the existing partnership between GM and Politecnico which was formalized in a Master Agreement on Research and Education in June 2006.
The goal of the Institute would be to develop and deliver world-class research and education with a strategic focus on future alternative powertrains which have the potential to reinvent the automobile for the 21st century.
A priority project as set out in the Accordo is also the creation of a new Diesel Electrification Competence Center to lead research and development on the electrification of diesel vehicles.
The planned center would be located within GM’s Engineering Center in the Cittadella Politecnica and administered by GM. GM and Politecnico would contribute advanced engineering researchers, facilities and professors and are in the process of applying to the Centro Estero per l’Internazionalizzazione (responsible within Regione Piemonte), for additional R&D funding to support the establishment of the innovative centre.
A focus of the centre would be to develop cost-effective diesel hybrid technology which could be implemented across a range of GM vehicles. Diesel hybrid has the potential to become a key element of GM’s electrification strategy in Europe where diesel powered vehicles account for around 50 per cent of the market.
As part of the center’s work to bring this new technology to market, it would focus on reducing the cost of diesel and hybrid technologies, reducing noxious and CO2 emissions, developing more intelligent controls to optimize performance and simplifying the combined diesel hybrid system.
Another important part of the Accordo is the commitment by all parties to work together to overcome the regulatory hurdles which could enable the launch of Italy’s first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle demonstration program.
GM stands ready to support a fuel cell vehicle fleet in Torino which could form part of GM’s successful global hydrogen fuel cell vehicle demonstration program, Project Driveway, which was recently launched in Berlin.
“We would like to see Italy play an important role in this ground-breaking global program and help to bring about sustainable mobility with zero emissions in Europe,” Mr Arcamone said.
The application to join the PACE program represents an important education pillar within the Accordo. As a centre of excellence in automotive research and education, and an important GM partner, Politecnico has been selected to establish the first PACE program in Italy.
PACE is a global corporate alliance between General Motors, EDS, Sun Microsystems and UGS that has been in place since 1999. It supports key academic institutions worldwide with industry-specific software, hardware and training to prepare the next generation of engineers, designers and analysts with the skills they need to compete in the future.
As part of its contribution, GM will donate specialist engineering work stations and training in the specialized automotive industry CAD (computer aided design) programs.
Finally, under the guiding principle of the Accordo, GM and Politecnico reaffirm their successful R&D partnership with new projects in Piemonte supporting the Italian national innovation strategy as set out in Industria 2015 and other European programs.