German automaker Audi has signed a strategic agreement with Technical University of Dresden (TUD) to work on new technologies for the automotive industry.
As part of the agreement, both partners will conduct a joint research in areas including lightweight construction and manufacturing technology under the Ingolstadt Institute of the Technical University of Dresden (INITUD).
Under this new deal, four doctoral students of TU Dresden are working on Audi projects including an emissions concept to reduce energy consumption and the assessment of tire properties.
For the lightweight concept, Audi will focus on intelligent multi-material mix and will benefit from the expertise in this field of TU Dresden, facilitating research into new areas.
Audi technical development board of management member Ulrich Hackenberg said that the goal of the cooperation is to achieve a technology transfer between science and industry.
"We want to transfer research at the highest level into concrete projects. This will allow us to secure our 'Vorsprung durch Technik' over the long term," Hackenberg added.
TU Dresden principal Hans Müller-Steinhagen said that they want to create a competence center in which science and practice are closely meshed.
"One special aspect is the interdisciplinary approach, because various faculties are involved in the project," Müller-Steinhagen added.
"In addition to physicists, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers, psychologists and transport scientists will work together on topics relating to automobile manufacturing."
