STUTTGART, Germany – Bosch is celebrating a milestone anniversary this week: 50 years ago, the supplier of technology and services established its first institute for basic research. The Forschungsinstitut Berlin (FIB) opened its doors on April 1, 1965. At the time, 26 associates were tasked with basic research into semiconductor circuits, which today play a leading role in many fields at Bosch. The FIB’s official sphere of activity was studying “the physical and chemical principles of interfaces as well as thin films and surfaces.”
The Berlin-based institute’s staff accounted for just one percent of the roughly 2,600 associates who worked in research and development at Bosch at the time. Until then, production-related development had been the main pillar of engineering at Bosch.
The developments introduced by the FIB research center changed Bosch forever and provided key inspiration for many modern products and technologies. Today, Bosch is a leading global supplier of micromechanical sensors (MEMS sensors, microelectromechanical systems). The company has produced more than 5 billion of these components, which are also made from semiconductor material. MEMS sensors can recognize the slightest movement and acceleration, for example. Such sensors can be found in driver assistance systems, smartphones and fitness trackers. Other MEMS sensors optimize the air-fuel mix in engines to help reduce fuel consumption and ensure clean exhaust emissions.
Innovation continues to play a pivotal role in the success of the Bosch Group to this day. The company currently employs around 45,600 associates in research and development, roughly 1,300 of whom work in corporate advance engineering. Around the world, associates are developing not only new products, but also new manufacturing processes, materials and software. This approach has resulted in a number of developments, including a process for drilling extremely tiny holes in the hardest of metals that won Bosch and its partners Trumpf and the University of Jena the German Future Prize in 2013. Bosch invested almost 5 billion euros in research and development in 2014, or around 10 percent of its sales. More than 90 development sites are located worldwide. Bosch applied for around 4,600 patents last year alone.
Some 1,200 associates from corporate research and advance engineering are currently moving to a new research campus in Renningen, Germany, just outside of Stuttgart. Bosch is investing around 310 million euros in the new hub of the company’s global engineering activities. The associates there will research new materials, methods and technologies, and develop new systems, components, and manufacturing processes. Renningen also offers space for an additional 500 students and interns. The official opening of the new research campus is scheduled for this fall.
The FIB research center in Berlin no longer exists today. It was merged into the Technical Research Center in the 1970s, which became part of the advance engineering and engineering coordination corporate sector in 1980. The research center was closed and integrated into the institutes that preceded Bosch’s current corporate research and advance engineering in the 1990s.
