Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltd. (“ISID”, Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Setsuo Kamai), 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-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 Press Release 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.
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