Innovating to move people: Audi Innovation Research
An interdisciplinary think tank, with headquarters in three strategic locations, to analyse today’s and tomorrow’s trends and develop the best possible solutions for users.
What does it mean to have an edge? For Audi, that means finding the right way to respond to global megatrends in the fields of digitalisation, sustainability, and urbanization. These decisions have a big impact on a customer's living space, their wishes and visions – in other words, these will define the future of mobility.
Trends and innovations
Audi Innovation Research (AIR) analyses these trends and takes a close look at what they mean for the Audi brand, researching and designing innovations that have the potential to revolutionize mobility.
Within AIR’s offices in Germany, the United States and China, teams are are chipping away at the drivers of societal change and coming up with new ways to capture this “edge through technology”. Each office is assigned an independent role, from market to sociological research, but Audi’s “Strategy 2025” remains the guarding rail for the project-landscape of AIR.
Air Office Ingolstadt
AIR’s heart beats in Ingolstadt. In addition to providing its own market – Germany – the office also coordinates the activities of the other centres and aligns them with the Strategy 2025 guidelines. Proximity to the Audi headquarter ensures fast communication and rapid decision making. Inquiries can be answered quickly and results can be distributed rapidly.
“Digitalization, Sustainability and Urbanization are changing our living environment with tremendous speed. This will lead us to new and thrilling opportunities to develop and redefine our business model”, explains Frank Dieminger, Air Office Coordinator.
Audi Innovation Research San Francisco
Located in a city known for creating the most disruptive trends, Audi Innovation Research San Francisco applies a customer-centric approach to innovation and research in order to create premium digital experiences. This is amongst the most innovative areas in the world and plays a key role in the US, one of Audi’s key markets, thanks to the high concentration of investors and companies that create a highly attractive synergy to young talents. The Audi Innovation Research San Francisco team focuses on consumer needs in order to shape Audi’s digital business strategy, and this, combined with agile working approach, provides the Brand with the necessary tools and know-how to navigate the rapidly evolving mobility landscape.
What’s more, San Francisco presents an especially unique set of opportunities and challenges in terms of dense urban traffic and lack of parking, which make traditional car ownership increasingly complicated. This has led to an explosive growth in more “traditional” sharing services and experimental solutions to mobility, also supported by local governance, which is to particularly favourable towards emerging technologies.
Audi Innovation Research Beijing
The Audi Innovation Research Office in Beijing is responsible for decoding the fascinating habits of China. The team lives with the city’s hectic tempo with the goal of helping Audi to develop products, services and experiences. Beijing is the country’s media and high-tech hub, where one feels a real contrast of tradition and progress.
The whole of China is developing at an incredible pace: about a third of all the world’s patent applications come from here. This is the most important market for the Brand and for this reason the requirements of local customers are of central importance. One of the key drivers is the openness of Chinese customers, who are very curious and technology oriented. It is not by chance that new products are accepted extremely fast here and spread like wildfire.
Source: AUDI AG