Germany-headquartered industrial product manufacturer Siemens will invest €1bn ($1.1bn) in disruptive technology companies through a corporate venturing unit that will be launched at the start of October, it said yesterday.
The unit, dubbed Next47 as a reference to 1847 – the year Siemens was founded – will invest in innovative technology in sectors relevant to Siemens such as decentralised electrification, artificial intelligence, autonomous machines, networked mobility and blockchain-equipped data transfer technology.
Siemens chief technology officer Siegfried Russwurm will head Next47 on an acting basis, and the unit will be geographically agnostic, operating out of offices in Berkeley, Shanghai and Munich.
Russwurm said: “Next47 will provide the freedom to experiment and grow – without the organisational restrictions of a large company. Our new unit will rigorously pursue Siemens’ strategy and enable us to tap into disruptive ideas in our core areas of electrification, automation and digitalisation.”
The capital will be committed over a five-year period and Next47 will consider investments in businesses helmed by its own employees as well as external startups and established companies interested in developing technology within the unit’s areas of interest.
Next47’s first project will be a joint venture with aerospace company Airbus to develop hybrid electric propulsion systems that can be used in small planes and medium-sized passenger aircraft.
The initiative, which stems from an agreement formed between Siemens and Airbus in April this year, is expected to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the technology by 2020.