With 4.500 employees, an annual budget of 650 million euros as well as over 1.000 research projects and around 600 patents per year, the CEA's technology research unit is one of the key players in European research. Research is carried out on current topics such as energy transition, transportation and mobility as well as health and cybersecurity. The French research center has also produced more than 100 start-ups.
During his visit at SAL, Stéphane Siebert also exchanged ideas with Federal Minister Leonore Gewessler and section chief Christian Weissenburger. The program also included meetings with Rector Harald Kainz and Vice-Rector Horst Bischof of TU Graz, and company representatives of ams AG, AVL List GmbH, Infineon Technologies Austria AG and NXP Semiconductors Austria GmbH.
However, the main focus of the visit was to discuss the cooperation between CEA-Tech and SAL at a European level. SAL’s Executive Director Gerald Murauer: "It is of course a recognition of our work when the CEO of such a renowned European institution visits us. But even more important was the discussion of three concrete project ideas with which we want to score points on a European level and thus take another step towards playing in the Champions League of research."
SAL conducts research along the entire value chain of electronic based systems, from sensor elements to intelligent systems. Through strategic and contract research, but above all through cooperative projects with industry, research is carried out on innovative topics such as Industry 4.0, energy transition, Smart City or Smart Health. The aim of SAL is to sustainably strengthen the national EBS and micro-electronics ecosystem and to be competitive at an international level through cooperation with industry and pooling of research expertise.
Stéphane Siebert: "For us, Silicon Austria Labs is an interesting new cooperation partner at a European level. I congratulate the Republic of Austria and the federal states involved on this innovative project in the field of micro-electronics and look forward to future cooperation."
Development of SAL headquarter Graz will profit from cooperation
The expressed interest from the ranks of French top research shows that the model of SAL is working. The fruitful exchange between CEA-Tech and SAL, where technological solutions for the energy transition as well as innovative topics such as Artificial Intelligence and Edge Computing were discussed, will be deepened in joint projects in the future. The joint projects should benefit the personnel and technological development of the SAL headquarters in Graz.
