Technology Transfer Coordinator: Prof. Renato Romio – IMT
One of the main objectives for the creation of the Engineering Research Center is to promote technological cooperation between the different actors of Brazilian industrial scenario in the automotive field, including automakers, the “systemists”, component suppliers, inputs and services, and academia.
The Innovation Law, passed in 2004, and the InovarAuto Program, launched by the federal government in 2012, may have important effects on partnerships between companies and institutions of science and technology. Other mechanisms could be used to foster such cooperation. Connecting existing mechanisms of grants and/or funding with the development of cooperative projects can be an important instrument to stimulate the activities of cooperation. This is an important aspect in the automotive sector, given the increasing importance of suppliers in product development conducted by automakers.
The concern with green-house-gases emissions and reduced fuel consumption are the most important technological trends in this industry in the near future. Accordingly, in addition to developing mechanisms to encourage innovation in these areas, it is necessary to strengthen mechanisms for technology transfer so that the entire chain is benefited, from the producer of raw materials until the end customer using an economical, cleaner and lightweight vehicle.
The main actions in the Technology Transfer area are:
- Develop workshops and specific training programs in order to upgrade and align all stakeholders (product suppliers, service providers, systems suppliers, automakers) with state-of-the-art technology for biofuels that the ERC will use for the project development. This action is linked to the activity “Education and Diffusion of Knowledge”.
- Publish studies showing important aspects of research conducted in ERC in technical journals in the area of combustion, thermodynamics, heat transfer, energy conservation, tribology, combustion engines, etc…
- Promoting national and international exchange of human resources to collect and share technologies for theoretical and experimental analysis of combustion engines.
- Support government actions that promote the use of biofuels, considering all the productive chain, from raw material to the final use in vehicles.
- Since the Institutions which take part of the ERC have a role as promoter of social, economic and technological development of the country, they should also facilitate and promote the process of formation of technology-based companies (spin-offs) that meet the demands of development of propulsion technologies, especially those related to the use of biofuels. The Business incubators allow that the results of knowledge production in universities could result in a new business.