Norwich, 9 December, 2011: UTM Vice Chancellor,  Zaini Ujang chaired the third PTAC meeting at Lotus Group headquarters  in Norwich, England on 8 and 9 December, 2011.

The intense sessions on technology strategy for Proton Group of Companies comprised representatives of Proton Holdings and Lotus Group.

Among those present include Dato Syed Zainal Abidin (Proton Group Managing Director), Prof. Nick Collings (Cambridge University), Prof. Ricardo Botas (Imperial College), Prof Osamu Ono (Meiji) and Peter Marco (SRI, Stanford).

Lotus Group was represented by Danny Bahar (Lotus CEO, former Ferrari Marketing head), Mark James (Lotus, Engineering head, formerly from Ferrari).

A tour to Lotus manufacturing plant was guided by Donato Coco (Design Director, formerly from Ferrari) and Michael Och (Lotus Operations head).

PTAC was established in 2009 and co-funded by Proton and UTM.

Many spin-off activities have been initiated since then such as the Proton-UTM Professorship Chair in Automotive Technology.

Apart from that, the Industrial PhD program offered by UTM saw Proton staff members pursuing their PhDs under the supervision of UTM Professors and industry experts, with topics of research revolving around practical issues related to operations in Proton.

In addition two Proton Satellite Labs have been established in UTM looking into related research in green technology in automotive engineering.

The engagement with technology experts has also enhanced collaboration with renowned institutions like Imperial College, Cambridge, Meiji and SRI.

The UTM team has also taken a leading role in planning, designing and implementing  R&D for PTAC with partnership with Proton Engineering group.

During the recent PTAC meeting, many issues have been discussed including power train, green technology, e-Mobility, potential areas for strategic alliances and related NKRA projects.

As chair of PTAC, Vice Chancellor Zaini Ujang was very delighted with the outcomes of the third meeting.

Prof Nick Collings, head of division of Energy, Fluid Mechanics and Turbomachinery at Cambridge, who is also UTM Visiting Professor described the meeting as “most stimulating”