Feb 22 2007
Alcoa has announced today that it has established an Innovation Center of Excellence with leading universities in Russia to work on research and development projects focused on innovative mining, refining and smelting technologies.
“By establishing relationships with leading universities, national labs and industry partner research and development organizations in growing countries, Alcoa is multiplying its knowledge pool and is continuing to position the company on the cutting-edge of innovations within our key markets,” said Mohammad Zaidi, Executive Vice President, Market Strategy, Technology and Quality. “By collaborating with the best and brightest around the world that have expertise in the sciences at the foundation of our key markets, we are creating a powerful leveraging engine.”
Alcoa has signed agreements with Moscow State University in Moscow, St. Petersburg State Mining Institute in St. Petersburg, and Ural Polytechnic University in Ekaterinburg to work on research and development projects focused on transformational technologies in mining and refining. This complements the projects already started by Alcoa in Russia in the field of research. As of 2005, Alcoa Foundation has been supporting a major program in Russia to support education in three key technical universities in Moscow, Samara and Rostov-on-Don, the three key regions where the company has its offices and production facilities.
“Today’s business climate demands collaboration between business and universities, which Alcoa has been doing for years,” said Dave Olney, Vice President of Technology and Alcoa Business System (ABS) for Alcoa World Alumina. “The scientific community in Russia has a distinguished reputation, and we are excited by the initial energy between our researchers and these universities.”
Alcoa’s Innovation Center of Excellence in St. Petersburg, Russia, is part of a broader open innovation business model that focuses leveraging R&D resources in rapidly developing countries. Last month, Alcoa announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with India’s Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) to partner in collaborative research projects that address critical global issues such as energy efficiency, alternative and renewable energy sources, environmental technologies as well as multi-material engineered solutions. In China, Alcoa is working with Northeastern University (NeU) in Shenyang and Central South University (CSU) in Changsha, both of which are under the direct administration of the Ministry of Education of China. The collaboration between Alcoa and NeU and CSU focuses on innovative process technologies, energy efficiency, and nanotechnology.
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