The only organisation of its type in the field of power electronics in Europe, the ECPE (Engineering Center for Power Electronics) has unveiled its organisation, aims and future co-operation with research institutes and universities at the PCIM 2003 trade fair held in May.
With membership open to all European companies the association hopes to extend Europe's competitiveness with respect to North America and Asia. Its intention is to promote the exchange of experience between industry and science, intensifying research and providing particularly strong support for training and continued training. Another aim is to boost Europe's innovative strength and its leading role in future key areas such as energy production, energy distribution, the use of energy and - covering all of these - energy conservation.
The ECPE will control its power electronics network throughout Europe from its offices at the Nuremberg ETC (Energy Technology Center). The eight founding members are Conti Temic, Epcos, Infineon Technologies, NMB Minibea, Semikron International, SEW-Eurodrive, Siemens and STMicroelectronics.
The ECPE says its will initiate and control various basic research projects and targeted preliminary developments from its own funds and in close co-operation between industry and scientific institutes and higher education centre. It will pay particular attention to traffic, drive, and power supply technology. For these areas of technology, it will allocate main areas of competence to individual institutes and higher education centres and in so doing will help them become centres of competence of international standing in their respective specialist areas.
The Chairman of the ECPE is Prof Leo Lorenz (Infineon Technologies) and his two deputies are Dr Heinrich Heilbronner (Semikron) and Dr Richard Veith (Epcos).
According to the association, its close co-operation with the departments of power electronics at universities and institutes makes it easier for ECPE members to forge contacts with potential future members. As an association that represents the interests of the power electronics sector, the ECPE can attract more attention among the public than a single company might be able to do. The most important advantage for ECPE members is a direct 'line of information' to the respective current research subjects in their field, it says.
For more information contact Leo Lorenz, Infineon Technologies, [email protected] or see www.ecpe.org/slides/01.html
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