Mercedes 2010 Annual Report Download - page 87

Management Report | Profitability | 83
Effective involvement of the supplier industry. In order to
achieve our ambitious research and development goals, we also
make use of services provided by supplier companies. Particu-
larly in view of the technological challenges facing the automotive
industry and the need to bring new technologies to market
maturity as quickly as possible, it is essential to coordinate our
activities with supplier companies. Within the framework of
joint research and development work, we ensure that the core
competencies for technologies important for the future of the
automobile and for the uniqueness of our brands remain at the
Group.
More than 2,100 patents filed. Daimler newly registered
a total of 2,105 patents in the year 2010 (2009: 2,072), most
of which were in the areas of drive systems and safety. More
than 1,000 patent applications related to the issue of emission-
free mobility, in particular electric drive systems using power
from batteries or fuel cells. In the coming years, we will further
extend our technology and innovation leadership across all
products and brands with the help of industrial property rights.
High level of research and development expenditure. We
effectively continued the research and development projects
important for our vehicles’ competitiveness in 2010, while
further improving the efficiency and quality of our research and
development work. We intend to play an active part in shaping
the technological transformation facing the automotive industry
with pioneering innovations also in the future. We therefore
increased our research and development expenditure to €4.8 billion
in 2010 (2009: €4.2 billion). In accordance with IFRS accounting
regulations, we capitalized development costs in a total amount
of €1.4 billion (2009: €1.3 billion). The main areas of our work
were new, extremely fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly drive
technologies, in line with our “Road to Emission-free Mobility”
initiative. We work on optimizing conventional drive technologies
and enhancing their efficiency through hybridization, as well
as on electric vehicles with fuel-cell drive and battery power.
Another focus is on new safety technologies: In the context of
our “Vision of Accident-free Driving,” we are pursuing the goal
of avoiding accidents as far as possible and of alleviating the
consequences of any accidents that might still occur.
Road to Emission-free Mobility
Optimizing our vehicles
with modern conventional
powertrains
Hybridization for further
increase in efficiency
Locally emission-free driving
with electric vehicles powered by
fuel cells or batteries
Clean fuels for internal combustion engines
Energy for the future
Energy sources for locally emission-free driving
Research and development, environmental protection
Research and development as a key success factor.
Research and development play a key role at Daimler. Following
the tradition of Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, who invented
the automobile 125 years ago, we see ourselves as pioneers and
drivers of innovation in the automotive industry. In view of the
fundamental technological transformation facing the entire auto-
motive industry, successful research and development work is
a key factor for the Daimler Group’s future success. Our research
activities help us to anticipate trends as well as customers’
desires and the requirements they place on future mobility, which
are then consistently integrated into series products by our
development engineers. Our goal is to provide our customers with
exciting products and tailored solutions for needs-oriented, safe
and sustainable mobility. We organize our technology portfolio and
our core competencies to ensure that we achieve this goal
(see pages 140 ff.).
22,100 employees in research and development departments.
Key factors for the market success of our vehicles are the exper-
tise, creativity and motivation of our employees in research and
development. At the end of the year 2010, 22,100 persons were
employed in Daimler’s research and development departments
around the world. Of that total, 14,700 persons were employed
at Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, 5,400
at the Daimler Trucks division, 900 at the Mercedes-Benz Vans
division and 1,100 at Daimler Buses. More than 4,000 research
and development personnel were employed outside Germany.
The most important sites in our research and development network
are Sindelfingen and Stuttgart-Untertürkheim in Germany. Our
research and development locations in North America and Asia
include Palo Alto, California and Portland, Oregon, as well as
the research center for information and communication technology
in Bangalore, India, and the Global Hybrid Center in Kawasaki,
Japan. Furthermore, we collaborate with various renowned research
institutes worldwide and participate in international exchange
programs for young scientists.