Stmnt re R&D Strategy

ABB Ltd
14 November 2001


ABB focuses research and development to drive growth
At technology briefing for trade media, ABB spotlights Industrial IT, four 
global labs

Zurich, Switzerland, November 14, 2001 - ABB, the global power and auto nation 
technology group, said today that it is streamlining its research and 
development to focus on technologies that increase productivity and 
sustainability for utility and industry customers, especially growth areas 
linked to its broad initiative called industrial information technology - 
patented as Industrial IT.

At a technology day for specialist media, held at an ABB Group R&D laboratory in
Dattwil, Switzerland, ABB president and CEO Jorgen Centerman and chief 
technology officer Markus Bayegan outlined the company's new research and 
development strategy.

'Our business is focused on helping utilities and industry enhance their 
productivity and sustainability through power and automation technologies. Our 
research and development efforts must closely reflect that focus,' Centerman 
said. 'With Industrial IT, we are developing a common architecture allowing 
customers to link our generic and branch-specific offerings - and third-party 
products - into more efficient manufacturing and business operations. This is an
ambitious effort, which is key to our future.'

Bayegan said the new R&D strategy entails shifting some research resource in the
ABB Group R&D laboratories from mature technologies into Industrial IT and 
emerging technologies, such as wireless communications in industrial plants, 
industrial software developments and advanced sensors - aiming to make ABB's 
traditional and mature products Industrial IT-compatible.

'As a part of this process, we are creating four global virtual laboratories, 
Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies and Oil and Gas Technologies,' said 
Bayegan. 'This means linking our researchers up with one another, universities 
we collaborate with and partner organizations in a fully networked, online 
environment. It's a natural step in today's more open world, with IT providing 
for efficient communications between researchers and collaborators.'

ABB spent around 3 percent of revenues, or US$ 700 million, on R&D in the year 
2000. Some 6,000 scientists and technology specialists work in ABB Group R&D 
laboratories and divisional R&D centers around the world. In Europe, the shift 
in focus is coupled with a decrease from 760 to 550 scientists in Group R&D 
labs. In the United States and Asia, Group R&D staffing will grow from 25 to 100
scientists in the new technology areas. This means a net decrease of 135 
scientists in Group R&D centers.

Industrial IT is ABB's architecture for ensuring that the products, 
installations and software systems in a factory or an electrical utility grid - 
to take two examples - are built to a shared information standard, and can 
communicate as integral parts in an operational platform that allows online 
optimization in real time. Industrial IT-enabled products range from high-and 
low-voltage electrical equipment to motors, drives, and sophisticated operations
management systems in plants.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a global leader in power and automation technologies that 
enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering 
environmental impact. ABB has 160,000 employees in more than 100 countries.





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