Boosting digital and green transformation – EBSCON 2023

How do you drive digital and green transformation simultaneously? This was the focus of EBSCON 2023 (Electronic Based Systems Conference) in Graz, Austria. Karin Ronijak, Vice President Global Public Funding at ams OSRAM, joined representatives from the European semiconductor and electronics industry for a panel discussion. The topic: what must the tech industry do to take responsibility for and develop technologies that support and accelerate both digital and green transformation?

To facilitate a company's transition to the European Green Deal and digital transformation, clear political frameworks must be created. This includes setting precise policy goals, implementing legal frameworks to promote investments in climate neutrality, furthering the adoption of low-emission technologies and, above all, improving digital skills and education.

ams OSRAM invests worldwide to enable this twin transition – including investments in technologies, systems, manufacturing processes and, most importantly, in people. We are convinced that sustainability in its entirety is a necessary foundation for our "license to operate" – and a crucial prerequisite for long-term success.

We actively contribute to this transformation process by ‘pursuing’ three main directions: the development of innovative technologies and products, the implementation of highly automated and AI-supported green semiconductor production, and the enablement of intelligent applications based on our energy-efficient products.

In our technology portfolio, we place a focus on the development of green tech products and solutions. By this we mean technologies that are both innovative and environmentally friendly and help reduce CO2 emissions, provide clean drinking water and promote a sustainable lifestyle. To do this, our R&D experts develop products and solutions able to make a positive difference over their entire life cycle.

Due to their energy efficiency and small size, optical semiconductors are predestined to replace traditional technologies that have a poorer ecological balance. In addition, optical sensor solutions make it possible to sense the environment and generate data about the world around us. They take over the function of our senses – as the eyes of autonomous cars and intelligent robots or as the nose, ears and sense of touch of many internet-of-things devices. In this way, they contribute greatly to making processes more intelligent, that is more efficient, safer and more comfortable.

Our miniaturized and energy-efficient products for applications like displays, robots and electric cars support the EU's ambitious decarbonization goal and support novel digital applications. According to our calculations, the energy consumption of these highly innovative products is reduced by on average over 30 percent. The complete conversion of the daytime running light function from halogen to LED technology alone would save around 1,900 tons of CO2 per year in Germany. Increasing automation of our production sites, AI-supported semiconductor production plus the move to larger wafers also contribute to energy savings and significantly reduced raw material consumption.

As a global leader in optical technologies, we use the entire light spectrum to make everyone’s lives easier and better. Our unique selling point is our comprehensive technology portfolio and our goal is innovation and technology leadership.

Karin Ronijak

published on November 10, 2023

Karin Ronijak is Vice President Global Public Funding at ams OSRAM Group. She received her PhD in Economics from KF University of Graz and UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, US. In addition, Karin holds a degree (MSc) in European Project and Public Management from the FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in Graz. Before joining ams OSRAM, she was Senior Marketing Manager at AVL List. As Head of the Global Funding Department, she leads a global team of engineers who create and manage innovation projects for the next generation of emerging product ideas.