News › New Drive – OptoNet cooperates with Automotive Cluster East Germany (ACOD)
Automotive and photonics industries strengthen cooperation in Eastern Germany +++ Strong networks bundle competencies and connect companies and research institutions of both industries to form strong alliance +++
Jena, Leipzig – The Automotive Cluster Ostdeutschland e.V. (ACOD) and the Thuringian network OptoNet. e.V. seal forward-looking collaboration
Simon Schwinger, representative of the board of directors of OptoNet e.V. based in Jena, and Hans-Peter Kemser, chairman of the board of directors of Automotive Cluster Ostdeutschland e.V. based in Leipzig, signed the cooperation agreement of both networks today (March 4, 2022) in Jena with the aim of bringing together players from both industries and thus increasing competitiveness and employment in eastern Germany.
The cooperation is intended to jointly drive innovation in times of transformation. Photonic technologies are increasingly being used in the field of partially and fully automated driving, alternative drive technologies and digitalization in vehicles. Components and systems for modern display technology and driver assistance, free-form optics for interior and exterior lighting, but also precision manufacturing and modern image processing for quality control in production are among the technologies that the members of OptoNet e.V. would like to contribute to the cooperation.
Both networks want to meet new demands on the automobile of the future and bring together experts from both industries. The internationally recognized expertise on both sides offers valuable opportunities in joint working groups and projects for both the final producers and the supplier and development industry. The joint addressing of topics in scientific and technical education and their perception by the public and politicians is a concern of both associations.
Hans-Peter Kemser sees the cooperation as a »forward-looking and valuable step for the members of both networks. We can already contribute valuable experience and market trends through our cooperation with the East German logistics and IT clusters and thus contribute a very broadly based know-how culture. With the internationally esteemed companies and their competencies in the photonics sector, we are consolidating eastern Germany as an automotive location and creating stability for the people in our federal states as well.«
The board of OptoNet e.V. also sees it that way. Simon Schwinger says: »With an export quota of 67 percent, we are already very successful internationally. This is a significant contribution to the new cooperation and we expect a better understanding of each other – which will then also result in project approaches between the companies and research partners, which will particularly benefit small and medium-sized companies in both industries.«
The cooperation will focus on regular technical exchanges between the industry representatives. Specifically, future collaboration will involve joint development projects, events and trade show appearances, as well as ongoing discourse on ways to bring together new developments in the respective sectors, right through to educational content and educational partnerships.
To this end, new cross-sector event formats are also to be established. For the first time, the ACOD Congress on September 1, 2022 in Leipzig will focus more strongly on the topic of linking with other technologies and the cooperation of both networks.
To the Automotive Cluster Ostdeutschland e.V. (ACOD)
Since 2006, the ACOD has been pursuing the goal of providing sustainable support for the automotive and automotive supplier industries in the eastern German states. The central objective of the ACOD was and is to network all the fo
rces of the companies, research institutions, service providers, associations, societies and initiatives active in the automotive sector in eastern Germany in order to develop greater innovative strength and added value as the basis for positive development in eastern Germany. Among others, East German automotive manufacturers, renowned universities and institutes as well as companies from the supply, service and equipment industries are linked together in the ACOD.
ACOD Automotive Cluster East Germany