The “research subsidiary” of the Austrian Tribology Society (ÖTG), the Competence Centre for Tribology in Wiener Neustadt (AC2T research GmbH), is the operating organisation for the “XTribology” project, which has been running since April 2010. The institution located at the Technology and Research Centre Wiener Neustadt (tfz) has thus established itself as a K2 Centre (Centre of Excellence for Tribology) within the framework of the Austrian COMET Program.
In autumn 2018, the project proposal “COMET K2 Tribology Intelligence – Customized Tribology for Industrial Innovations” (acronym: InTribology1) was prepared on the basis of more than 100 declarations of support from corporate and scientific partners and submitted to the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). The evaluation phase was concluded with a hearing before a jury of international experts on 28 May 2019. AC2T research GmbH was able to represent and explain its project to the jury with a team of 5 persons. This team consisted of the AC²T members Prof. Dr. Andreas PAUSCHITZ (Managing Director), Dr. Nicole DÖRR (Lead Scientist) and Priv.-Doz. Dr. András VERNES (Research Area Coordinator, Numerical & Experimental Simulation), supported by representatives from industry and science – Dr. Gerald KILLMANN (Vice President, Toyota Motor Europe, Belgium) and Prof. Dr. Carsten GACHOT (Professor of Tribology, TU Wien).
The project exposeel and the hearing convinced the decision-makers to unanimously recommend “InTribology” for funding. In early June 2019, accordingly, the funding commitment to support “InTribology” with a budget of approx. EUR 43 million for the period April 2020 to March 2024 (with the option of an extension until 2028) was conveyed at the beginning of June 2019. The monetary contribution of the public sector was defined as 50 %. Two thirds of this contribution will be provided by the Republic of Austria (through the FFG), while the states of Lower Austria and Vorarlberg will finance the remaining third. However, the prerequisite for the allocation of the financial resources is that companies from the business sector, but also institutions from the research sector (e.g. universities) finance a corresponding share (in cash and materials) of the individual research projects.
A number of projects have already been predefined with partners. In particular, this concerns longer-term projects in the field of industrial research and experimental development as well as related fundamental research topics. The planned main topics (research areas) concern: Friction Optimized Devices, Wear Reduction Strategies for Industry, Sustainable Lubrication and Synaptic Tribology (the comprehensive application and method development of digitalization in tribology).
Additional project partners are welcome. Participation from industry and science is possible regardless of the size of the organization, the industry, but also the geographical location. Thus, international project partners can also participate in the research programme on a pro rata basis and benefit from the funding conditions in accordance with the available budget limits.
Detailed planning based on a uniform contractual framework (“Agreement”) is currently underway. If you are interested in working together on a project, please contact the AC²T management (Dr. Andreas PAUSCHITZ, andreas.pauschitz@ac2t.at
Prof. Dr Andreas PAUSCHITZ / Prof. Dr. Friedrich FRANEK 12.07.2019
1 https://www.ffg.at/compentence-centers-excellent-technologies-k2-centers