Digitization offensive at Brose: In-house IT lab fosters innovation

Internet of Things, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence, cloud-computing – Brose is working hard on digital technologies such as these. In the future the automotive supplier will intensify its collaborative partnerships with startups and universities in this field. The company commissioned an IT lab in April for this purpose. The opening was attended by business representatives from the City of Bamberg, the Bamberg Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IGZ) and the Lagarde1 Digital Startup Center.

The “BITlab” brings Brose one step closer to the digital future and opens up a forum for innovations and new forms of collaboration. “We want to strengthen our expertise and motivate employees to validate new ideas in the BITlab – without posing any risks to ongoing operations,” reports Christian Ley, Vice President Information Systems Brose Group. The use of agile methods and streamlined access allow for rapid results and shorter project lead times in the event of implementation later on. Risk factors – such as a lack of technical maturity – are identified early on.

“We pursue similar objectives in the Digital Startup Center, which is why we see mutual benefit in a collaboration,” explains Bamberg’s Economic Speaker and IGZ Managing Director, Dr. Stefan Goller. “Brose is a driving force for us, particularly in Industry 4.0.” Beginning in 2020, universities, startups and businesses will be able to connect at the Lagarde1 Digital Startup Center to push ahead with digitization. Brose is supporting the establishment of the network.

To promote further IT-based innovations within the company, the automotive supplier is also planning on building an Advanced Analytics Lab at its Bamberg location. The goal is to examine the possibilities of using automated data analyses to generate forecasts regarding future developments.