The initiative has been set up to focus on power electronics and it is intended to take the sustainability and resilience of the European energy chain, from generation to application, to a new level and strengthen Europe's technological sovereignty.
Over 60 research partners from 13 European countries are involved in the project which highlights the growing digitalisation of power applications. Infineon initiated the project and is an active participant with several corporate divisions actively involved – it is also the overall project coordinator.
"We have to make highly efficient use of energy if we are to achieve net-zero climate protection goals. Digitalisation can help here as a highly decisive lever for more energy efficiency," said Constanze Hufenbecher, Infineon’s Chief Digital Transformation Officer. "We are pleased to be able to combine our strengths with the strengths of so many excellent partners from research and business to jointly make the ambitious European research initiative PowerizeD a success."
"Power electronics is key to the energy transformation and is used anywhere and everywhere that electricity is generated, transferred and used efficiently," explained Dr. Rutger Wijburg, Chief Operations Officer at Infineon. "The broad spectrum of power electronics applications makes it very important that we collaborate with partners and organisations to jointly advance Europe as innovation engine."
The project partners are focusing on applications from the fields of Energy and Mobility. Seventeen demonstrator paths will focus on the improvement of drives for the rail industry, charging systems for the automotive industry, liquid batteries for the energy industry as well as drives for the manufacturing industries.
The research partners will take an interdisciplinary approach with topics including modelling and Digital Twin, Federated Learning as well as reliability and sustainability.
The immediate project objectives include:
- Reduction of power loss in power conversion by 25 percent
- Extension of the service lives of devices and systems by 30 percent
- Reduction of chip size by at least 10 percent
- Shortening development times by 50 percent
PowerizeD looks to increase the degree of mechanical and electrical integration of control, driver and switching functionalities in components and to advance the integrated optimisation of power switch functionalities, independent of the semiconductor material used.
New switching topologies and advanced control strategies involving the application of Artificial Intelligence are to improve efficient, robust and reliable operations even further.
The European Union is funding PowerizeD with approximately 18 million euros as part of the joint programme for digital key technologies (Key Digital Technologies Joint Undertaking, KDT JU) in its Digital Agenda. The amount will be matched by funding from the national governments of the respective countries involved.
The project will have a three-year duration and is expected to end in December 2025.
Further information on the project and the project partners can be found using the link below.
