BMW Group
Dr. Joe Tekli initiated and coordinated a collaboration between LAU and BMW Group since 2018 offering select students internships at the company’s seat in Munich, and promoting collaborative projects between both institutions. In 2021, the collaboration was extended to IdealWorks, a company wholly owned by BMW Group specializing in logistics robotics systems. Since its launching, more than 110 distinguished students have conducted their internships in the company’s Logistics and Supply Chain departments. A joint LAU-BMW Workshop Day on Vision Intelligence and Robots Applications (VIRA) has been established and organized for four consecutive years (VIRA 2018-21), allowing students who completed their internships in Munich to present and highlight their projects. LAU has also hosted the BMW Group Beirut Hackathon 2019 at LAU Beirut campus on October 8-9, 2019, hosting 74 students from 8 major universities in Lebanon, competing in a 24-hour AI programming marathon. As a token of appreciation to the successful collaboration between both institutions, BMW Group has donated to LAU a special edition 2020 hybrid electric i8 Boxster, to use for collaborative academic and research projects.
