Strong Cooperation for Future Topics
RWTH and Total seeking to expand their strategic partnership.
Since last year, RWTH and the French energy company Total have been collaborating on research and development projects as part of a strategic partnership supported by RWTH Innovation. Senior Vice President, Group Chief Technology Officer at Total, Marie-Noëlle Semeria, visited the University together with the research directors of Total's various business areas and the supervisory board member Maria van der Hoeven. The visit was intended as an opportunity to discuss a more intensive, group-wide cooperation, in addition to the existing partnership with the Total Marketing & Services division. RWTH Rector Ulrich Rüdiger and Professor Malte Brettel, Industry and Business Relations, warmly received the delegation.
The Group representatives visited various RWTH institutes such as the E.ON Energy Research Center, the Institute for Combustion Engines, the start-up factory and the electromobility laboratory, the Center for Wind Power Drives, and Aachener Verfahrenstechnik. The Group got an insight into RWTH's research expertise in the areas of renewable energy, materials engineering, wind power drives, battery systems, and ramp-up factory concepts, as well as in the Fuel Science Center. They then exchanged their ideas in a get-together.
Starting Points for New Projects
"We are very impressed with the University’s overall concept and research strategy and were able to identify many of our core topics at RWTH," explained Marie-Noëlle Semeria. "Right from the start, we were able to establish numerous points of contact for new projects that we are seeking to promote as part of a group-wide strategic partnership between Total and RWTH.
An extension of the cooperation across all divisions of Total is currently being planned. Core topics include energy, grid systems, battery storage systems, alternative fuels, wind power, geothermal energy, e-mobility, digitization, and the research areas of the Clusters of Excellence. Such a strategic partnership would be absolutely unique in Germany.
Total is a global energy group that produces and markets fuels, natural gas, and low-carbon electricity. In Germany, Total operates the country's third-largest filling station network and is involved, among other things, in setting up a national network of hydrogen filling stations for electric vehicles with fuel cells.
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A group of Total representatives visited RWTH to discuss the possibility of expanding their strategic partnership.
Source: Press and Communications