QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Science and engineering

Strong research collaborations in science, information technology and engineering

QUT has also produced more award-winning doctorate students in the field than any other Australian university. In 2011, QUT deepened its relationship with information systems provider Siemens through an agreed investment of more than $1.3million in QUT for the purchase of Vantage, the company’s leading software platform for command and control of critical infrastructure and incident response management, software licences, training and support, and subsidised equipment. QUT researchers used the Siemens system to establish an integrated airport simulation centre for the world-leading Airports of the Future project – a four-year award-winning international collaborative research project spanning seven interrelated research programs: Business Process Management; Business Continuity and Incident Response Management; Human Systems; Identity Management; Intelligent Surveillance; Airport Information Modelling; and Complex Systems. Another significant area of collaboration between QUT and German institutes is energy. KIT is one of Germany’s premier research institutions, and its mutual research focus with QUT in the energy field has resulted in a formal collaboration agreement between respective energy research centres. QUT is Australia’s leading university in power engineering by Australian Research Council funding, and has also attracted international research grants such as the National and International Research Alliance Program (NIRAP) project Planning Future Electricity Grids: Renewables, which includes collaboration between QUT, TU Dortmund, RWTH Aachen and Universität Duisburg-Essen. QUT researchers were awarded a $1.65 million Queensland Government grant to help reduce the state’s reliance on non-renewable energy. Electrical engineering professor Gerard Ledwich and architecture professor Robin Drogemuller lead the project to develop systems that will increase renewable energy use and software to co-ordinate electricity consumption during peak periods. The research also focuses on looming issues like increased use of hybrid cars. It aims to create a better planning tool for the distribution system and customer demand management, and explore incentives to encourage customers to participate in a co-ordinated system. The German partnerships embedded in this project contribute highly valued expertise in engineering, modelling and capital-costing economics. rs qut.edu.au/science-engineering

Some of the most successful collaborations between Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and industry have developed between the institution and German companies such as SAP, BMW, Hochtief and Siemens, as well as academic institutions including Fraunhofer, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), TU Munich, RWTH Aachen and Universität Stuttgart.

QUT is focused on building research and education collaboration with Germany in its areas of strength including infrastructure fields of information systems, civil engineering, urban development and energy. In 2012 QUT became the first Queensland academic institution to deliver accredited training courses for international business software company SAP. This is the software of choice by international companies such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Canon, Coca Cola, Nike and Ericsson and in Australia Linfox, the Australian Tax Office, Australia Post, BHP Billiton and National Australia Bank. Training courses commenced through the SAP u-academy, delivered by the QUT Information Systems School. QUT is the premier Australian institution for Information Systems (IS) research and the only university to achieve a top ranking for this field in a comparative assessment of research quality across 41 universities nationally in the 2010 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) framework. It is ranked higher than any other university in Australia or Europe (2008–2010) for research productivity by publications and international citation analysis in the top six Information Systems journals worldwide. BMW’s Volker Richter (right) and QUT students outside the firm’s Forschungs- und Innovationszentrum (Research and Innovation Centre) in Munich.

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