Bosch invests millions to support higher education

Bosch is investing approximately $10 million over 8 years to support local universities and energy research projects in North America. Part of a global initiative, the Bosch Energy Research Network (BERN) is a project that works jointly with North American universities to achieve lasting developments in research and accelerate progress in the important fields of the environment, energy and mobility. An expansion of the company’s higher education funding, BERN consists of two components: research grants and internships.

In 2011, Bosch will spend over $5 billion on global R&D activities. Approximately 45 percent of Bosch’s R&D budget is focused on products that help to enhance energy efficiency and protect the environment. The BERN project is a part of the Bosch InterCampus program, a global initiative in which the company invests about $70 million to provide support for universities and research programs focused on sustainable energy usage in Germany, China, India and the United States over the next 10 years.

Among the 34,500 Bosch researchers and developers globally, 1,800 are located in North America. The BERN project will fund 20 university research grants, with the goal of developing the best transformative energy technologies for series production. Funding will focus on several topics including energy conversion through solar energy, wind power and photovoltaics, storage technologies for transportation and utilities, and usage efficiency through microgrids and cooling systems. The research grants, each a maximum of $125,000, will be awarded competitively on a 2-year duration basis. For the project’s initial phase, the following institutions are invited to participate: California Institute of Technology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Michigan. Other universities may be considered at a later phase.

Bosch will also offer 200 internships to high-potential university seniors and graduate students, in the general area of energy topics. Internship programs will be offered to some 13 universities located near key Bosch locations in North America. Each year, Bosch globally invests more than $250 million in enhancing associates’ skills through training and apprenticeship programs, cross-functional transfers and international opportunities.