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Scania Enters Partnership with Mälardalen University’s Automation Research Center (MARC)
30/9/2025
The Mälardalen University Automation Research Center (MARC) has announced a new partnership with Scania, a global leader in smart and sustainable transport solutions. With this collaboration, Scania becomes the seventh major industry player to join MARC, following ABB, Alfa Laval, Ericsson, Hitachi Energy, Skanska, and Volvo Construction Equipment.
The MARC partnership was presented by Anna Davidsson, Senior Manager of Research and External Cooperations within Production, Procurement, and Logistics at Scania, during MARC’s third offsite meeting in August at the Mälardalen Industrial Technology Center (MITC).
Driving Competence and Innovation in the Mälardalen Region
Scania maintains a broad portfolio of global academic and industrial collaborations, continuing to invest in pioneering technologies to strengthen regional growth and ensure long-term access to highly skilled talent.
“A sustainable transport system cannot be achieved in isolation. Access to skilled employees and world-class competence is essential to remain competitive,” said Anna Davidsson. “Our engagement with academia is a vital part of this ambition. Through our long-standing collaboration with MDU, we quickly recognized that MARC offers unique value to Scania, particularly in advancing smart automation tailored to our needs. The Mälardalen region has strong potential for production development, and proximity to MDU ensures both efficiency and responsiveness.”
Strategic Alignment with MARC’s Research Agenda
During her presentation, Davidsson outlined Scania’s competence portfolio, highlighting seven core themes for competence development. MARC’s research areas align particularly with two of them:
- Automation to enhance productivity, utilization, and adaptability
- Pioneering next-generation automation and robotics
The MARC partnership will begin with a pre-study on soft PLC solutions, addressing current challenges in Scania’s production environment, including improving PLC capacity, streamlining backup and testing processes, and strengthening knowledge of device versions in operation. Researchers from MARC’s RA1 and RA3 teams will collaborate closely with Scania engineers on this initiative.
Looking Ahead
The pre-study marks the first step in a long-term collaboration, with additional opportunities to explore synergies across all three MARC research areas.
“The digital transformation and automation of industry represent a major shift,” said Thomas Nolte, Director of MARC. “Scania brings real-world industrial challenges into our research environment, creating a unique opportunity to co-develop innovative solutions that strengthen both academic excellence and industrial competitiveness.”