Monthly Archives: April 2018

At BMW, eco-innovation is closely linked to a variety of related concepts. It is often used with environmental technology, eco-efficiency, eco-design, sustainable design. While the term environmental innovation is used in similar contexts to “eco-innovation”, the other terms are mostly used when referring to product or process design, and therefore focus more on the technological aspects of eco-innovation rather than the societal or political aspects. Our process aligns with ecological innovation to construct products which have a generative nature and are recyclable back into the environment for usage in other industries.

Carbon fibers are fibers about 5–10 micrometers in diameter and composed mostly of carbon atoms. Carbon fibers have several advantages including high stiffness, high tensile strength, low weight, high chemical resistance, high temperature tolerance and low thermal expansion. These properties have made carbon fiber very popular in aerospace, civil engineering, military, and motorsports, along with other competition sports. However, they are relatively expensive when compared with similar fibers, such as glass fibers or plastic fibers.

First, the emphasis of value is shifting from hardware to software. BMW products have evolved from purely physical components to complex systems combining processors, sensors, software, and digital user interfaces. As manufacturers seek to accelerate product innovation and efficiently meet the growing diversity of customer demand and regulation, they increasingly turn to software. One example: A BMW automobile now has on average 100 million lines of code to enable variable driving modes, various engine and emission configurations, adaptive cruise control, and hands-free commands.

At BMW, sustainability is the endurance of systems and processes. The organizing principle for sustainability is sustainable development, which includes the four interconnected domains: ecology, economics, politics and culture. Sustainability science is the study of sustainable development and environmental science. Sustainability can also be defined as a socio-ecological process characterized by the pursuit of a common ideal. An ideal is by definition unattainable in a given time and space. However, by persistently and dynamically approaching it, the process results in a sustainable system.

Hydroelectric power stations in the United States are currently the largest renewable source of energy, but the second for capacity (behind Wind power in the United States). Hydroelectric power produced 35% of the total renewable electricity in the U.S. in 2015, and 6.1% of the total U.S. electricity.

As the world’s best-selling manufacturer of luxury cars, creativity has been important to the success of the BMW Group. A century-old company, it has achieved an impressive tradition of innovation. Now, however, as a tidal wave of change is sweeping through its industry, the need for rapid innovation at BMW has become more urgent than ever before.