BME and Knorr-Bremse launch joint research, scholarship programs

János Józsa (left) and András Sávos

The braking system developer and manufacturer supports the faculty with a grant of HUF 25 million. Within the framework of the program, students and researchers will participate in the international companyʼs research and development projects. The company says that it expects the participation of university students and researchers in the development of safety-critical embedded systems as well as advanced railway driver assistance systems.

Knorr-Bremse Budapest renewed its cooperation with BMEʼs Faculty of Mechanical Engineering four years ago, in November 2016.

This time, it signed a five-year cooperation agreement with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics. The topic of the cooperation will be "The technologies and methods of the future in vehicle control".

Apart from the grant and the joint research opportunities, Knorr-Bremse Budapest supports the cooperation with student, PhD and research scholarship programs, and supporting TDK conferences (a diploma project competition). Furthermore, by establishing a jointly operated model railway lab the company can contribute to the education and research activity and the infrastructural development of the university, the press release says.

András Sávos, managing director and István Erdős, director of research and development electronics, on behalf of Knorr-Bremse Budapest, János Józsa, rector, and Attila Kotán, chancellor, on the behalf of BME, signed the cooperation agreement.

"Digital technology also plays an increasingly important role in the manufacture, design and control of braking systems. Braking systems are made even more efficient and safer by highly complex, intelligent software, manufacturing is increasingly relying on Big Data-based methods, and product development is using new state-of-the-art technologies to give new momentum of innovation," explained András Sávos.

"We currently have 120 software engineers working for our company, many of them on world-class R&D innovation projects. With the current agreement, the knowledge sharing between the university and the company can be further strengthened, while we can also take care of our own supply of specialists," he added.

János Józsa emphasized that the program, which is now underway, will expand the close cooperation between the university and Knorr-Bremse in the field of training and research and development.

Experts from BME and the company are currently working on several research and development projects. As an example, he mentioned the development of a platform that implements the integration of Knorr-Bremse processes, with which the companyʼs product development, manufacturing, material handling and quality assurance environments can be "smartened" to the level of Industry 4.0 technologies and this solution can be implemented at other Hungarian manufacturers.

Józsa emphasized that researchers from two faculties - the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics - the Faculty of Transport and Vehicle Engineering - are also participating in the mentioned development project.

The event was attended by József Bódis, State Secretary for Higher Education, Innovation and Vocational Training, who emphasized that one of the pillars of the competitiveness of Hungarian higher education is the continuity of partnerships with large international companies.