Audi 2010 Annual Report Download - page 164

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In the sphere of further training, diverse qualification projects were held in 2010 in preparation
for model launches. In view of the growing complexity of products and technologies and the
increased number of launches to be handled over the next few years, a new process was adopted
for this. It has already been implemented for launch training for the new Audi A8, A7 Sportback
and A6 models at Neckarsulm and the Q3 at the SEAT S.A. plant in Martorell (Spain).
AUDI IN SOCIETY
Donations by employees and Company reach record level
In 2010 the Christmas fundraising campaign brought in EUR 770,000 – the highest amount
since it was introduced in 1977. 99 percent of employees at Neckarsulm and Ingolstadt contri-
buted towards the campaign, with the total topped up by the Company. Charities and organiza-
tions in the regions around these two Company locations were the beneficiaries of the fund-
raising campaign, which was pioneered by the Works Council.
Audi employees also raised funds to help the victims of the natural disasters in Pakistan and
Haiti. Along with other fundraising campaigns and a donation of EUR 500,000 by the Company
to help those affected by the chemical accident in western Hungary, the total amount raised by
the employees and management at AUDI AG was EUR 1.8 million.
Additional research partnerships
Last year AUDI AG built on the research partnerships it has been establishing since 2003 by
establishing ties with new partner universities and providing the funding for professorships.
The partnership with the renowned Tongji University of Shanghai in the field of electric drive
development was sealed at an event attended by the Chinese Minister of Science and the Chairman
of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, Rupert Stadler. The first project for the “Audi Tongji
Joint Lab” is to develop an electric driveline for the Chinese-built Audi A6 L with long wheelbase.
Heilbronn University became a new research partner of the existing Audi Neckarsulm University
Institutes in April 2010. This new research partnership will be working mainly in the research
fields of engine development and lightweight design. A new research partnership with the
Universität der Bundeswehr (University of the Federal Armed Forces) in Munich will concentrate
on the subject areas of leadership and electric mobility.
In addition, the Company funded its first endowed chair and guest professorship in 2010. AUDI AG
joined forces with Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, a German industry initiative
promoting science and learning, to set up a five-year professorship in the area of “Acoustics and
Technical Mechanics” at Ingolstadt University of Applied Science, because vehicle acoustics is
increasingly becoming a differentiating feature particularly in the premium car market. At the
Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, AUDI AG is funding a three-year guest professorship
for “International Trends in Economics and Research.” The first incumbent of this post, in
summer 2010, was a Chinese economics professor from the Sun Yat-sen Business School in
Guangzhou.
AUDI AG organized its own series of lectures last year under the banner of “Hands-On University,”
where lecturers from partner universities presented the latest findings from their research
(INI. and HIN. seminar). Together with the partners Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-
Nuremberg, the University of Stuttgart and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the
Company also offered half-day advanced events (INI. and HIN.JUGEND.KOLLEG), which intro-
duced school students from eighth to tenth grade to the world of technology. A total of over
2,000 school students and adults attended the “Hands-On University” in 2010.
Last summer AUDI AG was also involved in setting up the University Foundation of the Technical
University of Munich, in the capacity of institutional benefactor. The purpose of the foundation is
to provide both moral and material support for research and teaching at the Technical University
of Munich, including in the form of funding for outstanding students and lecturers.