The University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology will partner on a research program, to be known as Clean Transportation Innovation Cluster, to develop advanced electrical storage systems for the auto industry.

Governor Snyder was in Germany to celebrate the letter of intent during his eight-day European tour and said, “Michigan is one of the top states in the nation for research and development with more than $16 billion in industrial R&D and close to $2 billion in university research, and we’re always working to help our leading universities turn the latest developments into jobs.” Fraunhofer, Europe’s largest application-oriented research organization has partnered with the University of Michigan since 2009 when a collaboration was funded through Alternative Energy Technologies for Transportation and the new partnership is based on the success of its predecessor.