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ISID Establishes Joint Venture Company with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for MBSE Business
[June 08, 2018]

ISID Establishes Joint Venture Company with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft for MBSE Business


Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. ("ISID", Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Setsuo Kamai)(TOKYO:4812), and subsidiary iTiD Consulting, Ltd. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Atsushi Yoshimoto; hereinafter along with ISID collectively referred to as the "ISID Group"), have agreed to establish the joint venture company Two Pillars GmbH with the Fraunhofer (News - Alert)-Gesellschaft (Head office: Munich, Germany; hereinafter, "Fraunhofer"), Europe's largest applied research organization. This company will develop business in the model based systems engineering (hereinafter, "MBSE*") area.

Located in Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL), a leading-edge technology region where the German government is promoting Industry 4.0, this new company will develop advanced MBSE support functions based on "iQUAVIS," the ISID Group's conceptual design tool, and provide consulting services based on "CONSENS", an MBSE method developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM, located in Paderborn, OWL. These activities will target the manufacturing industry in this region and throughout Europe.

Fraunhofer has a track record of successfully launching more than 350 companies through its spin-off program for promoting the commercialization of its research results, and this is the first joint venture company it has established with a Japanese corporation.

Background Establishment and Objectives

In recent years, amid the rising development efficiency of increasingly large-scale and complex systems and products, the full-fledged introduction of MBSE is expanding globally as a development method for creating innovative products and services. In addition to this, the advance of industrial innovations resulting from IoT and smart factories is further increasing the importance of MBSE. In Germany, which is pushing Industry 4.0 forward, introduction of MBSE method CONSENS, developed by Fraunhofer IEM, is practised mainly in the OWL region at the moment, but increasingly supports engineering projects all over Germany, too.

iQUAVIS, developed by ISID as Japan's first system for the visualization of planning and design processes, enables the identification of critical points where a design needs to be aligned in advance and indicates the optimal design process at the conceptual design stage of the development of products with complex systems such as automobiles, precision equipment and other products, realizing performance and operation through coordination of hardware and control software.

iQUAVIS has been employed by approximately 100 of Japan's largest manufacturing companies in the automotive and other industries, and in recent years, its use has expanded as a tool for supporting MBSE.

The establishment of this new company was agreed upon by both parties because it corresponded with Fraunhofer IEM's intent to procure a conforming tool for CONSENS with the aim of accelerating expanded implementation of CONSENS in Europe, as well as ISID Group business strategy, which aims to further strengthen iQUAVIS functionality and introduce it to global markets. Prior to this mutual agreement, Fraunhofer IEM conducted a rigorous evaluation of major MBSE tools in Europe, and concluded that iQUAVIS was the tool most compatible with CONSENS.

Going forward, both parties aim to develop MBSE business in Europe using CONSENS and iQUAVIS, collaborate to strengthen iQUAVIS functionality as a CONSENS conforming tool, and promote this as widely as possible as a standard technology infrastructure in the MBSE field. Furthermore, the ISID Group will take advantage of the MBSE business know-how gained through this new company to strengthen its services for the Japanese manufacturing industry.





 
*   MBSE is the acronym for Model Based Systems Engineering. This is a method used for promoting large and complex development while communicating with different engineers in specialized fields such as mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and information engineering using a "model" as a common language. Due to recent advances in IoT, it is gaining recognition not only as a method for enhancing the development efficiency of single systems and products, but also for developing complex products such as smart connected products requiring coordination with peripheral systems.
 

Overview of New Company

In establishing this new company, two leading researchers in this field from Fraunhofer IEM will participate as investor and founding proprietor with representation rights in accordance with Fraunhofer's spinoff program. The head of ISID's iQUAVIS development organization will be appointed as member of the management with representation rights.

 
Company name:   Two Pillars GmbH
Established: June 2018
Location: Paderborn, Germany (inside Fraunhofer IEM)
Representatives: Christian Tschirner, Christian Bremer and Atsushi Yoshida
Business:  

iQUAVIS add-on function development, marketing, license sales and related consulting, training and support services and other related activities

 

About Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is the leading organization for applied research in Europe. Its research activities are conducted by 72 institutes and research units at locations throughout Germany. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft employs a staff of more than 25,000, who work with an annual research budget totaling 2.3 billion euros. Of this sum, almost 2 billion euros is generated through contract research. Around 70 percent of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's contract research revenue is derived from contracts with industry and from publicly financed research projects. International collaborations with excellent research partners and innovative companies around the world ensure direct access to regions of the greatest importance to present and future scientific progress and economic development.
For more information visit: https://www.fraunhofer.de/

About Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM

The Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design IEM is an expert for intelligent mechatronics in the context of industry 4.0. Scientists from the fields of mechanical engineering, software engineering and electrical engineering collaborate interdisciplinary at the Paderborn site. Focusing on "Advanced Systems Engineering", Fraunhofer IEM explores innovative methods and tools for the development of intelligent products, production systems and services. Underlying core competencies are intelligence in mechatronic systems, Systems Engineering and Virtual Prototyping.
For more information visit: https://www.iem.fraunhofer.de/

About Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. (ISID)

ISID is a technology company utilizing its solid technological and creative capabilities to support the digital transformation of society and client companies. In addition to expertise accumulated since its founding in the financial services and product development domains, ISID continues to generate valuable solutions contributing to the resolution of issues facing society and client companies through achievements in the creation of systems supporting human resources, accounting and other core corporate activities, the leveraging of Dentsu Group marketing know-how and open innovation initiatives aimed at the practical application of IoT, robotics, AI and other cutting-edge technologies throughout society.
For more information about ISID, contact [email protected] or visit https://www.isid.co.jp/english/.

About iTiD Consulting, Ltd.

iTiD Consulting, Ltd. provides consulting services with strengths rooted in practical business for all companies offering goods and services that face management issues, including the identification of issues based on analysis of current conditions, the formulation of new business plans, the creation of technology roadmaps, the improvement of business process efficiency, support using Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), the promotion of modularization and the development of human resources.
For more information about iTiD Consulting, visit http://www.itid.co.jp/english/.

Note: Company and product names in this release are the trademark or registered trademark of each company respectively.


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