Siemens has also honored nine particularly ingenious researchers as Inventors of the Year 2015. The scientists - from Germany, the U.S., the UK and Norway - are together responsible for some 650 inventions and 309 individual patent grants.
Siemens has been presenting the Inventors of the Year award annually since 1995 to the organization's outstanding researchers and developers whose inventions have made a major contribution to its success. In the year ahead, researchers outside the company will also be eligible for the award.
"In the 21st century, research isn't ‒ and can't be ‒ conducted only in an ivory tower," says Chief Technology Officer Siegfried Russwurm. "Times have changed. Inventors no longer develop ideas for the future in isolation. Today, innovation requires a new, open style of cooperation. Taking inspiration from crowdsourcing and software hackathons, engaging in cooperative projects with universities, research institutes and small, flexible startups - all this is what we at Siemens are now doing every day."
As part of a move to expand its R&D collaborations with top universities, the company is establishing a new research center on the campus of the Technische Universität München (TUM) in Garching, a suburb of Munich. Research at the center, where over 100 Siemens scientists will work side-by-side with TUM researchers, will focus on everything from IT security to autonomous systems.
In 2016, Siemens will also establish a new innovation center in China. Cooperating across Division boundaries, the center's more than 300 employees will conduct research in new digitalization solutions for both the Chinese and international markets.
But Siemens is not only cooperating with universities; it is also intensifying its collaboration with startups. For example, the company is opening a new liaison office in Tel Aviv to establish close contacts with Israeli startups.
Siemens already maintains three such offices worldwide ‒ in Berkeley, Shanghai and Munich. To find the best ideas, Siemens scouts contact more than 1,000 young companies a year.
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