The meeting of the strategic council of the Chair, Faurecia, was held on 18 May on the ESIGELEC premises. Participating in this council were representatives of Faurecia, the director of the Chair, Laurent Daniel, and the research directorates of the two academic partners : Centrale – Supelec and ESIGELEC.

The aim of these meetings was to discuss ongoing projects, address difficulties with possible projects and to find solutions to resolve them.

Laurent Daniel presented the Chair and how it operates to lecturer-researchers, and discussions followed on the process for setting up research projects within this framework.

In terms of current or future projects, those concerning IRSEEM, the research institute of the ESIGELEC are innovative: reflections on the ability to automatically protect electronics against attacks in electromagnetic compatibility, electromagnetic characterisation of composite materials and homogenisation of their properties, to cite two examples.

"These examples show that the Chair works well in the sense that it supports projects upstream for the company Faurecia, while transferring competencies in cases where studies would lead to future concrete achievements," says Olivier Maurice, Director of Research and Development at ESIGELEC. "The complementarity between academic and industrial funders is therefore very good and fully meets the objectives and principles of the Chair."

There are three focus points of the teaching and research chair "Mechatronic Automobile" Faurecia - ESIGELEC - Centrale Supelec: EMC of electronics, active materials and mechatronic conversion devices.

The first is multi-disciplinary and may relate to projects oriented around the start of the two other focus points. The other two, materials and conversion, have been selected and approved with Faurecia to respond to some of their planning on future products, and to support Faurecia's position as a world leader, a position that it holds for certain products.

The Chair is due to last until 2019, a period that may be extended by five years.

Contact : Olivier Maurice, Director of Research and Development of ESIGELEC, Director of IRSEEM, olivier.maurice@esigelec.fr