TUM Institute for Advanced Study hosts 'Energy and Electromobility' symposium
Industry and university researchers map challenges on the road to electric vehicles and smart grids
by Patrick Regan
A day-long symposium on "Energy and Electromobility: Exploring the Fundamental Research Challenges" will take place on Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, at the Institute for Advanced Study of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM-IAS). The program ranges from big-picture issues - such as technical and economic questions raised by the prospect of transforming energy and transportation systems for a "low-carbon" future - to specific, cutting-edge research problems in energy conversion, storage, and control.
This will be the first major conference hosted in the newly opened TUM-IAS headquarters building, donated by BMW, on the university's Garching Research Center campus. "The theme of this inaugural event could not be more appropriate," says TUM-IAS Director Patrick Dewilde, "because it highlights a bias that I think sets our Institute for Advanced Study apart. That is, in addition to supporting theoretical work, we place a strong emphasis on research that advances technology and at the same time addresses globally important concerns -- whether that means healing the human body or migitating climate change."
The program kicks off with a talk on "Fully Renewable Energy Systems for Europe 2050" by Prof. Martin Greiner of Aarhus University. Among the other featured speakers are industrial R&D leaders from BMW, Daimler, General Motors, E.ON Energie, and Siemens; the energy and transport director of DLR, the German Aerospace Center; and the head of the climate center at Munich RE. TUM researchers will outline energy and electromobility challenges from several points of view, including physics, chemistry, and automated control engineering. A discussion of market considerations will focus on a specific case: the recently announced TUM initiative to demonstrate that an affordable electric car for a large customer base could be manufactured now, by uniting available and novel components in a visionary design.
The symposium will also feature an "Ideas Market." Here, selected TUM master's degree students and doctoral candidates will have an opportunity to present their own proposed scientific or technological solutions. Participants will invest in what they consider the best ideas by giving out symbolic money, which will be converted by the TUM-IAS into a real investment in the very best proposals.
Other upcoming conferences hosted or supported by the TUM Institute for Advanced Study will address topics including advances in nanoscience, research toward clinical applications of bone simulations, risk analysis, and gender in the business sciences.
Contact:
Patrick Regan
Corporate Communications Center
Technische Universität München
Email: regan(at)zv.tum.de
Tel. 49-892-891-0515
