KE-Awards-2020-eBadges-Winner
Praxis Auril KE Awards 2020 - Winners

The University of Birmingham has won a PraxisAuril Knowledge Exchange award for its partnership with Siemens Mobility, showcasing a best in class example of developing business and academic collaboration: “driving innovation in the rail industry and beyond”.

In February 2020, the University of Birmingham and Siemens Mobility announced a new, academic framework research collaboration, deepening the relationship between the two organisations. The partnership involves University collaboration in Siemens Mobility’s new Rail Accelerator and Innovations Solutions Hub for Enterprise (RaisE). This major R&D facility, to accelerate collaboration and develop a strong ecosystem and innovation pipeline for railways, is being developed alongside Siemens Mobility’s new £200 million manufacturing site in Goole, East Yorkshire.

Professor Clive Roberts, Head of the School of Engineering at the University of Birmingham, says: “This collaboration is the beginning of a long term alliance with Siemens Mobility, strengthening the connections between academia and industry and producing products and services that will be of real benefit to industry as a whole.”

William Wilson, CEO of Siemens Mobility, notes: “We are proud to be deepening our relationship with the University of Birmingham, which continues to go from strength to strength and we are delighted to see the recognition of this relationship with the PraxisAuril partnership award.”

In addition to the growing relationship with Siemens Mobility, the Knowledge Exchange award recognises the growth of the University’s relationship in other business areas of Siemens Plc, such as energy management systems and infrastructure, energy generation and storage, and digital manufacturing, with the Factory in a Box, an industrial scale demonstrator showcasing how industrial digital technologies can benefit manufacturers and their supply chains.

Maxine Ficarra , CEO PraxisAuril, says, “The PraxisAuril Knowledge Exchange awards recognises and celebrates the best national and international Knowledge Exchange achievements between academia and business and we are delighted that the University of Birmingham, together with Siemens Mobility and Siemens Plc provide a best in class example of innovation collaboration.”

Key success factors for the growth in the relationship between the University of Birmingham and Siemens Mobility were a thorough understanding of both organisations and detailed mapping of senior stakeholders.

The University of Birmingham together with Siemens Mobility and Siemens Plc, will now be involved in promoting and sharing best practice relationship development through videos and summaries, facilitated through PraxisAuril and UKRI.