Applus+ divisions in Technical Forums
Applus+ Divisions participate in several Technical Forums related to their own activity. There are different ways of participation, being specific frameworks to promote networking, encouraging government representatives, researcher organizations, companies, and other actors to deal with new technologies or to learn cutting edge methods in the fields in which they are operating.
Some technical forums are typically shaped as institutional structures that frequently comprise policy makers and government administrators, researchers (academics or private research centres), industry representatives (suppliers and competitors) and clients and end users. This variety of realities brings stakeholders from different backgrounds around a shared goal promoting the information exchange and the knowledge acquisition. This is crucial to anticipate to society and market needs by exploring and developing solutions.
Applus+ Auto is a member of CITA. CITA is the international association of public and private sector organisations actively practicing compulsory inspection of in-service motor vehicles and their trailers. CITA membership offers an environment to exchange information and to meet other technical experts from worldwide automotive inspection operators. In the last few years, Applus+ Auto has increased its participation in the CITA technical groups and since 2014 is fully integrated in the five existing working groups, which enables its involvement in discussions around policies to be implemented and being aware of new developments which contributes to its own innovation.
Another way of particip
ating in forums would be the case of Applus+ Idiada, which holds the representation of the Catalan Government in EuroNCAP. EuroNCAP is composed of seven European governments, as well as several automotive and consumer organizations in each European country. Its role is to become a catalyst for encouraging significant safety improvements in the design of new vehicles. Applus+ Idiada exerts an important contribution in this organisation defining procedures, performing official inspections and evaluations and providing its accredited test facilities. That is a “win to win” relationship, since NCAP procedures are one of the main worldwide product development targets in Automotive.
To take part in valuable experiences of testing and to deal with the state-of-the-art procedures and documents related to the NFC Tests, Applus+ Laboratories participates in the NFC Forum (www.nfc-forum.org). Applus+ Laboratories is currently leading two working groups and collaborates with Chip and Device manufacturers. Interaction among members of this community promotes the development of important and novel technologies by relying on shared knowledge. That increases our technical capabilities and allows us to achieve new accreditations in these fields. Applus+ Laboratories hosted the NFC Forum Plugfest in March 2015 at its Barcelona headquarters. Plugfest is a currently working group led by Applus+ Laboratories for performing tests and assays among NFC technology users.
Applus+ RTD is a m
ember of HOIS. HOIS is a joint industry project (JIP for NDT Best Practice in the oil and gas industry) which comprises more than forty partners from Oil and Gas Producers, Non-destructive testing (NDT) service companies, NTD equipment vendors and a regulatory company. The aim of this forum is to improve the effectiveness of in-service inspection for the oil and gas industry by means of a technical programme which comprises a wide range of technical projects aligned with industry priorities. Parties revise the programme, review work in progress and propose new projects at three 2 day meetings per year. Applus+ RTD hosted the last meeting which was celebrated in Barcelona in June 2015.
CIGRE, the Council on Large Electric Systems, is an international non-profit association for promoting collaboration with engineers and specialists from all around the world to exchange information and widen their knowledge to improve electric power systems. Applus+ Energy and Industry has taken part in this forum for more than ten years, attending expert meetings and even being a participant in the technical working groups. It means an opportunity to get first-hand knowledge of the new solutions developed in other countries and to learn about the regulatory trends led by the major power operators. The most relevant event organized by CIGRE is the exhibition which takes place in Paris every two years. Applus + Energy and Industry presented the Buho System Service at the last CIGRE Technical Exhibition held in Paris in August 2014.
These are only some examples of the diversity of forums in which Applus+ participates. Although most of them have different purposes, each one pursues the creation of an environment that contributes to share knowledge and foster networking that enables our Company to increase its interest in innovation.