The State Agency for New Mobility Solutions and Automotive, e-mobil BW GmbH, coordinates the Cluster Electric Mobility South-West. As the network for stakeholders from the entire added-value chain, the cluster offers access to current market and industry trends. In a cross-industry approach, the leading-edge Cluster Electric Mobility South-West collaborates with an impressive network of companies, universities and research institutes, providing a decisive impetus to the industrialisation of electric mobility in the South-West of Germany. In a region that has been home to the automotive industry and its suppliers for more than 130 years, the Cluster Electric Mobility South-West unites about 200 stakeholders from industry and science. Within the cluster, large, medium-sized and small businesses from different industries are brought together with research institutes in the form of a unique, extremely stable cooperation network that has grown over a long period of time, accelerating research and development. The cluster makes a decisive contribution to the technological transformation towards low-emission, competitive and marketable mobility.
The goal of the cluster “Electric Mobility South-West”, which was established back in 2008 and has been coordinated by e-mobil BW since 2010, is to play a key role in the implementation of the vision of strong, low-emission and market-driven mobility. The focus here is on the strategic fields of market and costs, handling and comfort, and interlinked mobility. The cluster exploits the unique opportunity offered by its region Karlsruhe – Mannheim – Stuttgart – Ulm to link together noteworthy large, medium-sized and small enterprises in the technological fields of vehicle construction, energy engineering, information and communication technology (ICT), and the interdisciplinary field of production engineering with local research institutes. Responsible for the management of the cluster here is e-mobil BW, which also supports the activities of the cluster with methodical approaches to modern project management.
In 2012 the consortium successfully participated in the 3rd round of the Leading-Edge Cluster Competition, as part of the High-Tech Strategy 2020 of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The award includes funding of 40 million euros for research projects, which is to advance the development of electric vehicles ripe for large scale production, their production itself, charging technologies, and IT solutions.
Building on the projects in the Leading-Edge Cluster Competition, additional funding from the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg is intended for the implementation of further measures for cluster development. Here, education, advanced and specialised training and the internationalisation of the cluster are key elements. These are intended to secure existing jobs on one hand, and make Baden-Wuerttemberg more attractive as a location for new workers on the other.
Electric mobility is a megatrend that will, together with connected vehicles, autonomous driving and digitalised production, significantly change the automobile itself, its use and the way it is manufactured in the years to come. Electric mobility is also a key factor for achieving climate targets. The State Agency for New Mobility Solutions and Automotive, e-mobil BW, supports the advancement of this technology via the Cluster Electric Mobility South-West.