February 21, 2013 - ABB selected 40 research projects for funding, after inviting academic and research institutes around the world to submit proposals for grants that will shape the future of power and automation.
The ABB Research Grant program is intended to support promising graduate students and senior researchers who are researching projects with industrial applications in the power and automation area. The 40 projects were chosen from more than 500 proposals submitted by more than 250 universities in 46 countries.
“We were delighted with the level of interest and very impressed by the quality of proposals submitted. Our aim is to establish a truly collaborative innovation environment with leading research institutes around the world,” said ABB Chief Technology Officer, Prith Banerjee. “We already have about 100 existing research collaborations with universities around the world, and we expect to fund 40-50 new ones each year.”
Among the selection criteria was how well projects matched the 33 research topics specified by ABB as well as their potential for industrialization. “We were looking in particular for projects that support our strategy, which is to develop power and automation technologies that save energy and improve people’s lives,” Banerjee added.
Grants typically range from $50,000 to $80,000 a year, and funding is initially for one year, but ABB expects to support the projects over a longer period of time.
The successful project leaders were notified in January 2013 and funding will start as soon as the contractual formalities have been concluded.
ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 145,000 people.