Dr. Ruediger Knauf was appointed Director Global R&D Center Singapore. Recently he had the position of Director Corporate Technology since April 2005. Knauf joined Hoechst AG in 1996 and has come to Siemens in 2000. He has held several positions in process development, engineering and R&D including Director Engineering Industrial Infrastructures. Knauf attended Technical University Clausthal-Zellerfeld/Germany, where he received a Masters Degree (Dipl.-Ing) in Chemical Engineering. At Technical University Aachen/Germany he earned a Ph.D (Dr.-Ing.) in Membrane Technology.
The Global R&D Center will collaborate with Singapore's Public Utilities Board (PUB), universities and environmental authorities on water and wastewater treatment projects. For its first project, Siemens will work with PUB and A*STAR´s Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) to improve the overall energy efficiency of its Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) process and identify opportunities for future product development.
With the Global R&D Center, Siemens expands Singapore into a technology and business hub for innovative water and wastewater treatment technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. The Water Technologies´ R&D Center will be a major research and development site for the Siemens water business, which currently has 15 R&D locations around the world and more than 140 scientists focused on water-related research and development activities.
"Our R&D Center in Singapore will allow us to explore innovative solutions for meeting water treatment needs in Asia, while working with some of the best in the industry," says Knauf. "Singapore provides a very unique and favorable environment for Siemens Water Technologies, because of the country´s advanced water management needs, its continued investment and contribution to water technologies and research, and its goal to be a global hydrohub." The MBR project is just the first of many that Siemens Water Technologies will collaborate on to continue to advance water management and sustainability in the region.
The Public Utilities Board is a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. It is the water agency that manages Singapore´s water supply, water catchment and sewerage in an integrated way. The Institute of High Performance Computing, established in 1998, is one of the research institutes supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
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