The Automotive Centre of Expertise (ACE) receives an additional contribution of 1 million euros from the Cabinet. The amount gives ACE more opportunities to facilitate knowledge exchange and strengthen the connection between education and the labour market. Among other things, the money will be used to facilitate startups, scaleups and student research.
ACE is a knowledge centre for applied automotive research and education. Within the centre, the automotive institutes of Hogeschool Rotterdam, Fontys Hogescholen, Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen (HAN) work together with industry. The centre aims to achieve synergy in terms of the quality of education, practical research, structural cooperation with industry, integration of business assignments in regular education, intake promotion, expertise and talent scouting.
'Education cannot keep up with innovations'
"Innovations are moving incredibly fast, faster than education can keep up. ACE sits between the business and education sectors, trying to stimulate the development of education," explains Josée Sombekke, director of ACE. "In recent years, the government has made huge investments in smart mobility, especially by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. This aims to make better use of existing highways, increase road safety and reduce CO2 emissions."
"Smart mobility can include self-driving functions, such as 'keep your lane' systems that prevent a vehicle from getting out of its lane, functions that automatically brake a vehicle if necessary and functions for automatic parking," Sombekke said. "Among other things, the commitment to smart mobility is causing a sharp increase in the number of chips in cars. Where chip technology in a vehicle currently costs a few hundred euros, this amount will increase significantly in the coming years."
Smart industry
"In addition, the production process in the automotive industry is becoming smarter, which is also called smart industry. This involves all kinds of issues. For example, how can smart technology be used to ensure that production in the automotive industry stays in the Netherlands and is not moved abroad? What robot knowledge is needed for this? How can techniques be used to keep production flexible, so that it is possible to switch quickly between parts produced in small runs?" says Sombekke. "Finally, the use of materials in the automotive industry is also changing, which helps make cars more fuel-efficient and reduce vehicle CO2 emissions. Consider the use of lightweight materials, which can ensure occupant safety despite their low weight."
This is causing major changes in the automotive industry; cars are increasingly becoming hardware and software products. "This development also has a significant impact on education. The function of the automotive engineer is changing as a result. The profession is increasingly a combination of mechatronics, vehicle engineering and IT," says Sombekke. "For example, engineers in the automotive industry are increasingly coming into contact with cameras and LIDAR systems used for self-driving functions. In addition, making vehicles smarter also brings risks. For instance, cyber criminals can break into the digital systems in a smart car. It is important that students are aware of this when developing applications around smart vehicles, so that they can include security at an early stage in development."
Facilitate more startups, scaleups and research
"With the help of the one million euros made available by the Cabinet, we can now facilitate more startups, scaleups and student research. Here, we are working closely with both the three colleges affiliated to us and the business community."
More information about ACE can be found at acemobility.nl. Examples of projects made possible by ACE can be found here.
Person in photo is: Josée Sombekke, director of the Automotive Center of Expertise
Photo was taken by: Scholten Linde Photography
By: Wouter Hoeffnagel
