Chrysler 2012 Annual Report Download - page 83

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Sustainability
RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND
SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
Fiat Group is committed to meeting the mobility needs of its
customers, while reducing the environmental and social impact of
vehicles over their entire life cycle. As part of that commitment,
the Group’s research and innovation activities are focused on
developing solutions for increasingly sustainable mobility, by
reducing fuel consumption and emissions, as well as improving
recyclability and safety. Continuous innovation is essential to the
development of environmentally and socially sustainable products
that are also affordable.
Global Innovation
As part of the collaboration between Fiat and Chrysler, activities
have expanded from development of common models and
platforms to also include plans for shared research and innovation.
In 2012, the Group launched the Global Innovation Process (GIP),
which establishes a single framework for the coordination of all
innovation activities worldwide. Developed by representatives from
each of the Group’s Regions and coordinated by Fiat’s research
center (CRF), the GIP covers all phases of the innovation process,
from idea generation to pre-competitive development. On the basis
of that framework, targets and guidelines were established at the
global level and formalized in two strategic agendas:
the Strategic Innovation Agenda, which sets short- and
medium-term objectives for product innovation and identifies
related objectives and technological challenges
the Strategic Research Agenda, which sets long-term innovation
objectives and priorities for collaborative research
At year-end 2012, the Group’s Research and Innovation activities
involved some 17,900 individuals worldwide at 77 centers located
across the four Regions (EMEA, NAFTA, LATAM and APAC).
During the year, the Group invested approximately €3.3 billion
in R&D5, equivalent to around 4% of net revenues from Industrial
Activities.
Testimony to the significant results achieved over the years is the
Group’s intellectual property portfolio, which at year-end 2012
included more than 8,000 active patents.
Patents – Fiat Group worldwide
Patents registered at 31 December 2012 8,299
of which: registered in 2012 427
Patents pending at 31 December 2012 2,622
of which: new patent applications filed in 2012 444
(5) Includes capitalized R&D and R&D charged directly to the income statement.
Report on
Operations