Internationalisation
To facilitate an initial exchange between the members of both networks and to identify opportunities for cooperation, the Cluster Electric Mobility South-West welcomed a group of French member companies from the partner network Pôle SCS at the end of November.
From 29 November to 1 December 2022, the Cluster Electric Mobility South-West hosted the member companies of the Pôle SCS BeNomad, epicnpoc, GENOW and Moabi in Stuttgart. A three-day programme highlighted cooperation opportunities and provided insights around the topics of high-performance computing, virtual reality, automated and connected driving, and testing infrastructure. The mission was supported by the ClusterXchange programme which is financed by the European Union.
The cluster management of the Cluster Electric Mobility South-West welcomed the French guests to the premises of e-mobil BW GmbH. In addition to the presentation of activities, the guests were given an overview of Baden-Württemberg as a location and the automotive industry based there by Baden-Württemberg International. Other highlights of the day were the visit of the ARENA2036 and to the Höchstleistungsrechner für Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft GmbH, supported by the cluster member SICOS BW.
In the afternoon, the French guests presented themselves to the attending cluster members with pitch presentations at the general meeting of the Cluster Electric Mobility South-West at the FKFS - Forschungsinstitut für Kraftfahrwesen und Fahrzeugmotoren Stuttgart. In addition to interesting insights into the test benches and simulators of the FKFS and the Campus Shuttle, the French guests had the opportunity to talk to cluster members and make new contacts.
On the second day of the mission, the French companies took part in the Automotive Suppliers‘ Day Baden-Württemberg. As part of the matching-fair, the companies BeNomad, epicnpoc, GENOW and Moabi had the chance to present themselves with a small booth and to exchange information and network with suppliers from Baden-Württemberg and Europe. “This mission gave us knowledge of how German industry is preparing for the evolution of the automotive industry with a great opportunity for French companies in the field of digitalisation.”, summarises Jean-Michel Brossard, CEO from Moabi. Arno Peduzzi, Business Developer from Benomad adds: “The mission allowed us to discover the local ecosystem and specialisations in the automotive sector, as well as to exchange with local organisations specialised in automotive equipment.“
On the third day, the cluster members Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and FZI Research Centre for Information Technology invited the French group to Karlsruhe. The KIT Campus Ost offered insights into the TAF-BW test area, demonstrator vehicles from cooperation projects with industrial partners as well as complete vehicle test benches. In the House of Living Labs (HOL) of the FZI the French companies had the opportunity to obtain information about current projects in the Future Mobility Lab und Industrial Intelligence Lab.
The interest of the French participants was high. Ahmed Smaali, CEO from Genow summarises: “I was delighted to be part of this mission. Very interesting and promising. A lot of potential collaborations and business opportunities.”
