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The participants in the Sino-Swedish program

5.5 Chalmers Areas of Advance

5.5.1 The Transport Area of Advance at Chalmers

The Chalmers Transport Area of Advance has as its premise that traffic safety, transport efficiency and sustainable vehicle technologies cannot be achieved by the government, industry or academic actor alone but by combining the efforts, expertise and perspectives of the different actors and sectors of society.

According to the Chalmers Transport Area of Advance team, the current challenges related to transport (traffic safety, environmental pollution, growing transport volumes, etc.) can only be addressed through collaboration between industry, the public sector, academic actors and society as a whole.

Figure 3 shows Chalmers Transport of Advance’s vision: to become leaders in research and education in three areas of environment, safety and efficient transport.

Figure 3

Source: Area of advance transport folder found on Chalmers Transport of Advance website7

The Transport Area of Advance encompasses research and teaching and also collaboration between academics and industry and between academics of different universities. Scholars in the Transport Area of Advance group not only teach at Chalmers but they are also involved in teaching activities at other universities in Sweden and abroad. Examples of universities in Sweden where

7 Also available at:

http://www.chalmers.se/en/areas-of-advance/Transport/research/Documents/Area_of_Advance_Transport_spread.pdf

the scholars in the Transport Area of Advance are engaged in teaching practices:

University of Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law (or In Swedish, Handelshögskolan), KTH, Linköping University, Linnaeus University, Lund University, Stockholm University to name a few. Outside of European Union universities where Chalmers’ scholars teach include: Aalto University School of Economics in Finland, Tongji University in China, University of Nairobi, Kenya and the University of North Florida, in the U.S. Within the EU, other universities where scholars at Chalmers University transport area have collaborations with include Portugal, UK and Germany. Out of 20 higher education institutions outside Sweden, where Chalmers Transport Area of Advance scholars have teaching activities, 3 of these institutions are in China, 3 in Kenya and 3 are in Finland. This list provides insights about the current state of internationalization of higher education at the Chalmers Transport Area of Advance. The international connectivity within the Transport program could be an indicator of the following: a) diversity in international collaboration; b) intensity of scientific mobility; c) the degree of internationalization of the Transport area of Advance research group; d) the nature of the research networks; e) the degree of international orientation and openness and f) the diversity in the internationalization activities in relation to location and global spread of the teaching and research activities.

The participants in the Chalmers Transport AoA

A total of 75 individuals, including management and support staff were involved in the activities within the Chalmers Transport Area of Advance in 2010. That number increased to 105 in 2011. Regarding gender, in 2010, 17 out of the 75 individuals were females and 58 were males compared to 24 females and 81 males in 2011. In the year 2011, 34 out of the 75 people were professors and 14 were associate professors. These numbers increased to 40 and 30 respectively in 2011. Senior lectures decreased from 18 in 2010 to 11 in 2011 while the number of post docs increased from 9 in 2010 to 15 in 2011. The remaining 9 individuals are males and females spread across the above mentioned academic positions.

In terms of size (number of participants), the Chalmers Transport of Advance is a larger program. It comprises of ten centers:

- SAFER or center for excellence for vehicle and traffic safety, Northern LEAD, provides logistical support for research at Chalmers and University of Gothenburg;

- Swedish Hybrid Vehicle Center (SHC) is a national center of excellence for electric and hybrid vehicles and helps to integrate academia and industry.

- Combustion Engine Research Center (CERC) is a university-industrial partnership that performs engine research on reduced fuel consumption - Competence Center for Catalysis (KCK) is a national interdisciplinary research center focusing on environmental catalysis and energy-related catalysis

- Swedish Knowledge Center for Renewable Transportation Fuels (F3) is a national center that helps with research on future renewable fuels - The Lighthouse Maritime Competence Center is a national center of

excellence for maritime research and innovation

- CHARMEC is a national center of excellence in railway mechanics - GAC coordinates atmospheric research

- CLOSER is the Swedish arena for research, development and innovation within transport efficiency and this arena is part of the Lindholmen Science Park AB.

Domestic and international ties: the Transport AoA

Interviews with researchers at Chalmers University of Technology indicate that the network of international collaboration in transport-related research is continuously evolving. Below is a map of the international collaboration network system in transport research at Chalmers University that shows the degree of diversity in the research collaboration network including countries from Western and Eastern Europe.

International collaboration: Chalmers Transport area within the EU

Source: Map constructed based on results of 2011 follow up quantitative data for Chalmers Transport Area of Advance.

The empirical data on research collaboration in the transport area at Chalmers University does not support the claim made by Hoekman et al. (2010). The author suggests that researchers closer to the European core countries are less likely to collaborate long-distance. The two graphs below show an increased trend, between 2010 and 2011, in long-distance collaborations between Chalmers and universities within Europe and outside. The most significant change refers to the number of collaborations between Chalmers and the U.S.

which increased from 11 in 2010 to 33 in 2011, a 200% increase, while the number of collaborations with Norway grew from 12 in 2010 to 16 in 2011 which represents a 30% increase. Based on the views expressed by Hoekman et al. (2010) about the likelihood of long-distance collaborations, one would expect a greater variation in the number of collaborations with Norway compared to the U.S., given Norway’s geographical proximity to Sweden, cultural and language similarities. Collaboration with Japan also increased from 4 in 2010 to 9 in the following year, an increase of 120%. The number of collaborations with The Netherlands, a country geographically closer to Sweden, decreased from 5 in 2010 to 3 in 2011.

Number of collaborations between Chalmers University of Technology Transport Area of Advance and universities in Europe and outside Europe.

Source: Results of 2011 follow up quantitative data for Chalmers Transport Area of Advance.

A number of conclusions can be drawn from the data in the above graphs and from interviews with researchers in the Chalmers Transport Area of Advance.

First, collaboration between Chalmers and universities abroad has been increasing. Good examples are the number of research collaborations with U.S., Japan, China, Iran, Germany and Denmark. Second, in the context of the Chalmers Transport Area of Advance and based on interviews conducted with researchers working in the transport area, there is no evidence that long-distance hinders or delays research collaboration. This is contrary to what data from the two eco-innovation programs suggest; geographical distance was a major obstacle for the sustainability of the two international programs. Moreover, in the context of the Transport AoA, there is no data supporting claims that language and cultural differences are factors that might hinder collaboration among researchers. On the contrary, the above figures show that the biggest percentage increase in research collaboration occurred between Chalmers University and universities in the U.S.