Chrysler 2008 Annual Report Download - page 27

Report on Operations Research and Innovation26
To promote sustainable mobility on multiple fronts, the Fiat
Group conducts its research and innovation activities through
the Centro Ricerche Fiat (C.R.F.) and Elasis. The activities of
both companies are coordinated at the strategic level by the
Group Executive Council.
In 2008, the Group’s expenditure on research and development (1)
totalled approximately €2 billion or 3.4% of net industrial
revenues. Overall, R&D activities involve some 14,500 people
at 118 centers.
Centro Ricerche Fiat (C.R.F.)
Profile
C.R.F. was established in 1978 as the Group’s centre of
expertise in innovation, research and development. Now an
internationally recognized centre of excellence, C.R.F.’s work
constitutes a strategic lever for the Group’s businesses,
enhancing performance through development and transfer of
innovative content which makes the Group’s products both
competitive and distinctive.
In addition to its headquarters in Orbassano on the outskirts of
Turin, the C.R.F. has three other centres located in Bari, Trento
and Foggia, as well as a controlling interest in CRP, the plastics
and optics research centre in Udine, which focuses on
advanced research in optics and plastics for automotive
lighting systems. C.R.F. also works in close synergy with CSST,
the centre for the study of transportation systems in Turin. With
over 850 employees, C.R.F. draws on a broad array of technical
skills, in addition to a series of cutting-edge laboratories for
powertrain systems testing, electromagnetic compatibility
investigations, NVH analyses, driving simulations, materials
and process development, optoelectronics and
microtechnologies.
C.R.F. achieved significant results for the year, as demonstrated
by the 51 new patent applications it filed in 2008, bringing the
total number of patents it holds to over 2,300. A further 600
patents are currently pending. At the international level, C.R.F.
was awarded more than 50 projects under the EU’s Seventh
Framework Programme for 2007-2013, confirming its status as
a well-recognised European research centre. C.R.F. has also
developed a global network of more than 150 universities and
research centres and 1,000 industrial partners around the
world. This network further strengthens its global innovation
strategies, ensuring that it can carry out specific operations
locally and helping it acquire skills and continually monitor its
competitiveness and growth in such fields as motor vehicles
and components, energy, safe and environmentally-friendly
mobility, telematics, innovative materials and production
technologies, mechatronics and optics, as well as the work in
innovative powerplants, alternative propulsion systems and
transmissions (conducted through the Powertrain Research and
Technology unit of FPT Powertrain Technologies).
Further information is available on C.R.F.’s website: www.crf.it.
Focus
Particularly active in sustainable mobility research, C.R.F.
applys a systematic approach to developing innovative
solutions which embody a 360 degree concept of sustainability
which includes reducing emissions through innovative
engines,, as well as improving fuel efficiency through
downsizing and enhanced aerodynamics, infomobility, the use
of recyclable environmentally-friendly materials, and extending
even to reducing traffic congestion and noise and ensuring that
manufacturing processes are eco-compatible.
In addition, C.R.F. pays close attention to the concrete
possibilities for the future that its sustainable mobility research
can open up. Sustainability is a complex challenge that can be
achieved only by linking together the many centres of
excellence in Italy, thereby establishing an efficient network of
collaboration for emerging technologies. Phylla, the Multi-
Ecological Sustainable Urban Vehicle prototype promoted by
the Piedmont regional authority and unveiled in 2008 is the
result of a synergistic project that brought industry together
with the academic world and local government and
demonstrates the potential of a flexible, open network which
enables access to the best expertise available, harnessing it in
service of a common goal. As Vehicle Project Leader, C.R.F.
coordinated the working group that succeeded in one year in
creating a laboratory on wheels, which incorporates the most
innovative solutions in sustainable urban mobility.
In an increasingly complex market which requires that time to
develop and bring a product to market is significantly reduced,
C.R.F. is responsible, together with Elasis, for developing
methods for the entire Fiat Group which, through utilisation of
Research and Innovation
(1) Includes capitalized R&D expenditure and R&D charged directly to the income statement.