Siemens Appoints New R&D Head for the U.S.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Siemens has appointed Kurt D. Bettenhausen Senior Vice President of Siemens Corporate Research, the company's U.S. research & development (R&D) division. Siemens Corporate Research is responsible for numerous breakthroughs in science and emerging technologies, including new imaging processes that allow for earlier detection of diseases, enhancements in energy efficiency to reduce building energy consumption, and renewable energy solutions to combat high energy prices.

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"Kurt brings many years of research and development experience to this role and will lead our efforts in the U.S. to develop next-generation, innovative technologies and solutions to meet global challenges," said Eric Spiegel, president and CEO of Siemens Corporation. "Research and development is crucial to our business success and vital to our competitiveness in a global marketplace."

Siemens has over 30,000 research and developers at various locations in 30 countries throughout the world working on solutions for energy, industry and healthcare. The company also enters into over 1,000 new research partnerships each year. Siemens in the U.S. dedicates about five percent of its annual revenue to R&D efforts, amounting to $1 billion spent on R&D in the U.S. last fiscal year. Siemens has over 7,000 researchers and developers located in the U.S. and is granted about 1,800 patents annually.

"Siemens is at the center of some of the most important and innovative technologies reshaping the world," said Bettenhausen. "With a history of over 160 years, our success rests on our proven ability to anticipate and engineer the future."

One of the pioneering projects Siemens is working on is "High Performance Buildings", a project designed to reduce building energy consumption, which accounts for 40 percent of energy usage worldwide. The project includes work with researchers from eight university and research institutes to link important cross-sector building technologies such as automation, security technology and others to reduce energy consumption, conserve resources, and optimize the entire lifecycle of the building.

Siemens research arm is also the leader in the development of new imaging processes including infrared-based systems that pinpoint abnormal cells and tissues for earlier detection of diseases and digital platforms that allow analysis of medical images from any source.

Research and development is also being conducted to combat high energy prices and environmental issues by developing carbon mitigation and waste heat recovery solutions, including carbon capture and sequestration, migration of electrical power generation to increasing amounts renewable energy sources, and improvements in electrical energy efficiency.

Bettenhausen joins Siemens Corporate Research from the company's Industry's Engineering and Consulting Business, a part of the Industrial Automation Business Unit. Bettenhausen has held senior positions in marketing, sales and product management at Axivia prior to its acquisition by Siemens and began his career in research department of Hoechst, a former German life-sciences company. Bettenhausen received his Master's degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Darmstadt in Germany. He will be located in Princeton, New Jersey.

SOURCE Siemens