APC 2012 Annual Report Download - page 29

2012 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC 27
OVERVIEW OF THEGROUP’S STRATEGY, MARKETS AND BUSINESSES
1
RESEARCH&DEVELOPMENT
>
4. Research&development
The R&D strategy of Schneider Electric is designed to consolidate our global leadership in critical technologies of
its businesses while supporting the specifi c needs of each market by the Group and the strategic development of
solutions.
To support innovation, the Group invests nearly 5% of its revenue in R&D each year.
4.1 A global R&D organization
The R&D organization is structured around four global hubs (China,
India, the Americas and France) and their satellite sites (in th e
countries) and a central function.
The central R&D function:
•coordinates innovation on the common technology platforms of
the 5Group businesses;
•defi nes and oversees the implementation of tools and design
methods, with a particular focus on systems engineering
(including StruxureWare).
The four global hubs:
•develop products/solutions for all Group businesses (global
products);
•collaborate with the organization in each country to specify and
develop specifi c offers;
•develop strategic expertise and innovative technologies for the
entire Group, both internally and in partnership with research
organizations. This will drive the development of the products
oftomorrow.
Governance of all of these activities is ensured by a council of the
Chief Technology Offi cers (“CTO”) of each business and the CTO
Group. The medium-term technology strategy is validated annually
by the Executive Committee.
StruxureLabs:
To improve the effectiveness of solutions development projects, the
Group has established global structures responsible for defi ning
pre-assembled solutions for the market segments targeted by
Schneider Electric. These “StruxureLabs” both better meet all the
market-specifi c needs of our customers (hospital, mines, utilities,
etc.) as well as accelerate the adoption of the Group’s technology
platforms. These pre-assembled solutions are composed
of predefi ned bricks assembled into a tested and validated
architecture to ensure rapid deployment and risk control. This
enables StuxureLabs to combine the power of global technology
platforms and focus on the specifi c characteristics of each market
segment.
Diversified partnerships
In addition to pursuing our own innovation and R&D initiatives,
we pursue an active R&D partnership policy in collaboration with
prestigious universities and institutions, such as Shanghai Jiao Tong
University in China, the MIT Media Lab and Georgia Tech in the
United States, the French Alternative E nergies and Atomic Energy
Commission (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies
alternatives), INRIA (the National Institute for IT and Automation
Research in France), École des Mines ParisTech, Institut N ational
P olytechnique de Grenoble and Université Joseph-Fourier in France
and the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico.
We are also involved in numerous collaborative projects with
academic and industrial partners in France and the rest of Europe,
specifi cally in the areas of energy effi ciency and environmental
protection. Partnerships are also made possible by bilateral
agreements or support for professorships.
4.2 Launch of an integrated software suite
StruxureWare is developed within the transverse program
EcoStruxure, which defi nes a common architecture to effi ciently and
fl awlessly integrate our various technologies. Integration enables us
to provide transverse solutions combining energy management and
process management in each market segment.
StruxureWare, launched late 2011, is an integrated software
suite covering all operational management and global enterprise
management needs: from process optimization to environmental
reporting (from shop fl oor to top fl oor). The suite combines
Schneider Electric’s historical control solutions and complementary
solutions from recent acquisitions.
In2012, StruxureWare launch was extended to all of the market
segments serve d by Schneider Electric. For each segment, a
specifi c version of the suite was defi ned by combining standard
or specifi c applications or specifi c extensions for each market
segment. (The control application is usually very specifi c to each
segment, while the resource management application is generic.)
Finally, each segment solution is developed in several reference
architectures that address the main issues of each segment.
These reference architectures offer customers implementation with
controlled risk and accelerated achievement of targeted operational
and fi nancial results.