TUT joins forces with Virtual Vehicle Competence Center
The Department of Business Information Management and Logistics from Tampere University of Technology (TUT) has established a strategic research partnership with the Virtual Vehicle Competence Center based in Graz, Austria.The Virtual Vehicle Competence Center (ViF) has positioned itself as an independent, international platform for research and development in the automotive industry. It addresses the gap between academic research and the needs of industrial research and development departments. ViF’s cooperation network comprises leading European automobile manufacturers, such as Audi, AVL, BMW, Porsche and Siemens, and focuses on vehicle development and future vehicle concepts for road and rail.
The research partnership between the Department of Business Information Management and Logistics and ViF is partially related to the five-year Comet K2 research programme (“K2 Mobility”) that is funded by the European Union and coordinated by ViF. The total budget of the programme amounts to tens of millions of euros. The programme will be launched on 1 January 2013 and runs until the end of 2017.
The partnership and the Comet K2 programme open doors to diverse collaboration between TUT and leading European car manufacturers, their partners and subcontractors. Collaborative research activities will concentrate on industrial cooperation and the management of related information. Modern technologies and forms of collaboration, such as social media, will be utilized in the process. The SOITA project (Social Media in Innovation Process in the Customer Interface) that is currently underway at TUT explores such technologies and the ways of using social media in innovation processes with b-to-b companies.
Further information:
Professor Hannu Kärkkäinen, hannu.karkkainen@tut.fi.