Siemens

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. For over 160 years, Siemens has stood for technological excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality.

Siemens – A global partner of innovations

Innovations are one of the most important pillars of our business success. In fiscal 2010, we invested € 3.846 billion in research and development, maintaining our R&D outlays at a high level despite the financial and economic crisis. We developed new key technologies and brought cutting-edge innovations to market readiness. Breakthroughs included the commissioning in China of the world’s first high-voltage direct-current transmission system to transport electricity at a voltage of 800 kilovolts, and the market launch of the latest generation of gas turbines in the U.S. When operated in a combined cycle with steam turbines, our new gas turbines achieve a record-breaking efficiency of over 60 percent. By comparison, the average efficiency of combined-cycle power plants in the U.S. is currently less than 40 percent.

These are just two examples of successful innovations from our Environmental Portfolio. Other ecofriendly technologies developed by our researchers include new solutions for smart grids, electric mobility (from drives to rapid battery recharge stations), organic light-emitting diodes, solar energy, CO2 separation for power plants, and power storage units for Renewable energies. R&D for our Environmental Portfolio focuses primarily on increasing the efficiency of power generation (whether renewable or conventional), low-loss power transmission, the expansion of smart grids, and efficient energy utilization in transportation, industry, building technology and lighting. Our researchers are also working on the further development of water and air pollution controls and drinking water treatment systems that use, for example, new membrane technologies.

Research and development: Siemens has roughly 30,100 R&D employees, of whom 12,800 are in Germany and 17,300 in other countries such as the U.S., China, Austria, India, Slovakia, Switzerland, the UK, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic and France. To remain at the cutting edge of innovation, we participate every year in over 1,000 research partnerships with universities, research institutes and industrial partners around the world.
Corporate Technology (CT), our central research unit, works hand-in-hand with the R&D teams at our Sectors and Divisions. With major research centers in Germany, the U.S., Austria, Slovakia, Russia, India, China, Japan and Singapore, CT employs over 5,000 people in a worldwide network of innovation.

A Network of Expertise: The goal of Corporate Technology (CT) and its worldwide network of experts is to act as a powerful innovation partner for Siemens’ business units. The organization provides expertise regarding strategically important areas to ensure the company’s technological future, and to acquire patent rights that safeguard its business operations. Against the background of megatrends such as climate change, urbanization, globalization, and demographic change, CT focuses on innovations that have the potential to change the rules of the game over the long term in areas that interest Siemens.

Corporate Technology conducts research in some 50 technology fields, including materials and microsystems, production processes, security, software and engineering, energy systems and sensors. The unit also develops new solutions for automation, healthcare IT systems and imaging processes, information and communications technologies, and the extraction and processing of raw materials.

In its Global Technology Fields (GTFs), Corporate Technology brings together experts from globally operating research teams all over the world in order to pool their expertise and become a preferred innovation partner for the Siemens sectors. In addition, ten lighthouse projects (pp. 12-13) are investigating in which fields of research the innovative power of Siemens should be focused in particular over the long term. Current topics range from smart grids to electric mobility to energy storage, and from the use of CO2 to the automatic generation of knowledge from self-learning systems. These projects involve researchers from various technology clusters and Siemens sectors, who work together in interdisciplinary teams.

Patents and research expenditures: The Siemens patent portfolio comprises more than 57,000 patents worldwide. In fiscal 2010, we were No. 3 in Germany, No. 2 in Europe and No. 13 in the U.S. in patent applications. In the same period, our employees submitted around 8,800 invention reports – about 40 per workday.

Co-operation and collaboration: Siemens enters into more than 1,000 partnerships with universities, research institutes, and industrial partners every year. About half of these partnerships involve Corporate Technology — and these collaborations are an indispensable means of developing strategically important technologies.

Exploiting service orientation is one of Siemens strategic goals. Siemens is a founding partner of the European Technology Platform NESSI (Networked European Software and Services Initiative). Reinhold Achatz, Corporate Vice President and Head of Siemens Corporate Research and Technologies, represents NESSI as chair of the board. As a partner in several projects Siemens contributes with its wide range of industrial expertise. Siemens focus areas are software and services, architectural patterns, virtualized infrastructures industrial use cases and standardization. In addition Siemens is a founding member of the European Future Internet Initiative which has been setup by sixteen major industrial European players in the ICT environment to shape the Future Internet activities in Europe together with the European Commission.