The International Transportation Innovation Center Appoints Chief Technology Officer

GREENVILLE, S.C., Feb. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC) has bolstered its executive team with the appointment of Dr. Joachim G. Taiber as Chief Technology Officer. The move comes as ITIC begins implementation of a major expansion of its Greenville presence. A longtime research professor at CU-ICAR, Taiber will continue to serve as an adjunct faculty member there.

As Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Taiber will be responsible for leading the implementation of the master plan for ITIC Greenville presented last year to the public and to design a public/private partnership model centered around automotive R&D and event activities in order to validate, showcase and learn about new technologies. An important element of bringing R&D business to the region is to develop and maintain national and international R&D partnerships, a central element of the ITIC business development strategy.

Dr. Taiber has been a leading force behind ITIC since its inception in 2010 when, as a research professor for CU-ICAR, he helped form a joint economic development initiative with the South Carolina Technology Aviation Center (SCTAC). Originally called "Project Green", this joint venture worked to redevelop an inactive 1-mile long airfield runway and adjacent property at SCTAC into a physical test bed for connected vehicle and sustainable mobility technologies. The program eventually became the legal entity now known as the International Transportation Innovation Center.

John Hopkins, Executive Director of ITIC, said, "We have worked closely with Joachim over many years to turn a visionary idea into reality. We are excited to have him officially become our Chief Technology Officer and know that we will continue to benefit immensely from his experience and leadership."

Over the last couple of years Dr. Taiber has helped ITIC become known nationally and internationally as a leading test site for connected and sustainable mobility. For example ITIC has been working on wireless power transfer for electrified vehicles with partners that include Oak Ridge National Labs, Toyota, Cisco, Duke Energy and CU-ICAR. Together, they have pioneered a testbed infrastructure that supports both stationary and in-motion contactless charging. ITIC has also developed a partnership with SK Telecom of South Korea to apply new cybersecurity technologies to secure connected vehicles and related infrastructure.

Among his many duties, Dr. Taiber will direct the implementation of the master plan design for ITIC Greenville developed by Tilke Engineering of Germany, one of the world's most prestigious companies in the design of automotive race and test tracks. Tilke has been tasked to create on 559 acres a multi-purpose automotive testing, training, innovation and event facility with unique features to support connected, automated and zero-emission driving to draw automotive R&D companies, supply chain partners and start-ups to the Greenville region, leveraging its capabilities to take a lead role in the Southeast as an automotive hub not only for manufacturing but also for R&D.

Fred Cartwright, Executive Director of CU-ICAR, said, "Dr. Taiber's many contributions to CU-ICAR, including the forging of our relationship with ITIC, are very much appreciated.  I look forward to a continuation of this important partnership as we work together to establish the Greenville area as a global leader in transportation research, education and economic development."

Born and raised in Germany, Dr. Taiber received formal academic training at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, where he graduated with a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1991. He completed his PhD in Technical Sciences in 1996. His career in the automotive industry began with BMW AG in Munich as an in-house consultant for the redesign of the product development process with a focus on functional integration. In this role he learned how vehicles are made and how simulation methods and physical test methods are combined to validate all product functions of the vehicle.

In 2003, he was asked to help plan the BMW Information Technology Research Center at CU-ICAR, and in 2005 he moved his family from Munich to Greenville to lead the Innovation Office at ITRC. He successfully implemented an IT innovation team at ITRC from 2005 until 2010 where a multitude of IT innovation prototypes in the domain of mobile device applications, cloud services and vehicle-to-infrastructure services where developed in collaboration with multiple BMW business units, BMW IT partners and BMW university partners, in particular Clemson University. In 2010, Dr. Taiber joined Clemson University as a research professor and he became a faculty member of the Department of Automotive Engineering at CU-ICAR. He created the Sustainable Mobility Institute where he served as director and focused on research activities in the domain of vehicle electrification, vehicle connectivity and vehicle-infrastructure interaction.

About the International Transportation Innovation Center

Located at the South Carolina Technology & Aviation Center (SCTAC) in the heart of North America's largest automotive cluster, the 559-acre International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC) is a research-based testing facility designed to promote innovation. Created as collaboration between a number of automotive leaders and partners — including SCTAC, the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) — ITIC is a game changer. Its sole purpose is to deliver an unparalleled automotive testing and research environment that supports the development of sustainable transportation and networked and automated vehicle systems. It facilitates transportation innovations in an ecosystem that is safe, secure and confidential. Through funding from a variety of public and private sources, ITIC is currently commissioning a comprehensive Master Plan for the complete design and build out of its 559-acre automotive testing infrastructure. Visit www.itic-sc.com for more information.

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