The ministry of Economic Affairs provides 7.7 million euro for an Innovative Research Programme (IOP) in the field of integrated manufacturing and development. Initiator and author of the IOP-proposal is the Research School for Integrated Manufacturing and Development (IPV), in which the three technical universities co-operate. The scientific and administrative director of the research school is UT-professor H. Kals.
The subsidy of 7.7 million, meant for innovative technical research for the benefit of the long-term needs of business, is available for the next four years. According to professor Kals the amount will pay for 110 man-years research to investigate the relationships between all processes in the design and production phases.
How much of this money will eventually end up in Twente is not yet known. In the IPV 10 departments and laboratories from the universities of Delft, Eindhoven, and Twente co-operate. The research school was started in 1999 to be able to combine knowledge, to inititate new interdisciplinary research, and to build a bridge between fundamental and applied research in the field of design and production.
