BMW Group and NTU set up first joint research lab in Southeast Asia

NTU now joins seven other prestigious universities such as the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Georgia Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as partners to the BMW Group in setting up joint labs.

Under the ambit of advanced battery materials and human-machine interfaces, the BMW Group-NTU initiative aims to find solutions to key transport requirements in the most sustainable way possible, especially in the area of electric vehicles, where battery safety, efficiency and being environmentally-friendly is of utmost importance.

The study of mobility patterns and concepts will be focused on consumer behaviour in new mobility offerings for mega-cities, namely for multi-modal transportation and car sharing. One such area is the development of advanced routing algorithms so as to make the daily commute more comfortable.

Located at NTU’s Research Techno Plaza, the new joint lab will start off with five scientists and six PhD student researchers. It will be led by Dr Mirjam Storim, Coordinator of University Cooperations of BMW Group and Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, Director of the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N).

BMW AG’s Senior Vice President, Dr Kay Segler, said BMW Group is pleased to work with NTU, one of the world’s leading technological universities. “Singapore has an abundance of top talents and think-tanks, such as the researchers from NTU whom we are confident will be able to contribute vastly to this study,” Dr Segler said.

“Singapore offers the setting of a highly-dense, urbanised mega-city, and is coincidentally inhabited with a highly sophisticated and tech-savvy population. By fulfilling the two key criteria that Future Mobility solutions are targeted at, Singapore became a natural choice for us to conduct this study in.”

NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson said that with more than 70 per cent of world’s population expected to flock to global megacities by 2050, it is a scenario that emphasises the importance of mobility research.

“Our partnership with a global leader such as BMW Group is testament to NTU’s strength in electromobility, transport and innovation. As a fast-rising global university with a focus in sustainability research, we are confident this collaboration, the first such in Southeast Asia, will result in important discoveries in sustainable mobility and future motoring.”

“We look forward to working together with the BMW Group in new research areas including developing advanced routing algorithms to make commutes more comfortable, ensuring battery safety for electric vehicles as well as next generation fail-safe systems,” Prof Andersson said. “This collaboration with BMW Group is another endorsement of NTU’s strengths in applied research and our history of strong partnerships with industry leaders such as Rolls-Royce, Bosch and Vestas.”

CEO of the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore, Professor Low Teck Seng, who was the Guest-of-Honour for the event, said “NTU’s collaboration with BMW Group is another milestone in Singapore’s research landscape”.

“Industry partnerships for research such as the BMW Group and NTU joint lab, is aligned with Singapore’s vision of being a global research hub,” said Prof Low.

“Through such collaborations, sustainable solutions can be found for the environmental challenges of this century, and I’m hopeful research breakthroughs for future mobility will be borne from the combined efforts and expertise of both institutions.”

Projects by the joint lab will leverage the BMW Group’s expertise in automotive and mobility, as well as NTU’s research strengths, particularly that of ERI@N which carries out cutting-edge research in solar cells and other renewables, electric vehicles, energy and power systems, and battery technology in collaboration with industry.

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Credits: Oneshift News Team