Building the Knowledge Base — Reshape Aurelis Mobility's R&D Competences

A four-round, advanced corporate-R&D-strategy simulation set inside Aurelis Mobility Systems, a mid-cap European electric-drivetrain supplier headquartered in Grenoble (EUR 1.9bn revenue, 9% EBIT, 6,400 staff, R&D at 7.1% of revenue across ~900 engineers and 480 patent families). The board has delivered a blunt verdict — 'our competitive advantage is migrating to technologies we do not own' — and chartered an R&D strategy reset with a EUR 220M, three-year capability-investment budget. Value is moving from Aurelis's commoditising strongholds (electric machines, thermal management — 71% of patents, prices falling 6–8%/yr) to power semiconductors and embedded control software (under 9% of patents, IP licensed in). A flagship automaker (22% of revenue) needs an integrated power-electronics-plus-software module for a platform whose sourcing decision is due in 9 months; organic build takes 4–5 years; EUR 410M of lifetime revenue is at stake. Playing the R&D Strategy Lead, you (1) diagnose the SHAPE of the knowledge base — breadth across domains and depth within each — and name the two gap domains against the value-migration map; (2) choose build / buy / partner for power semiconductors and embedded software and fund the moves from EUR 220M, weighing the EUR 140M Eindhoven acquisition, the EUR 35M controls co-development deal and the EUR 18M institute joint lab, while protecting the strongholds and explicitly funding ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY so bought knowledge is internalised, not a black box; (3) set the ecosystem posture — closed integrator, open orchestrator or hybrid — and draw the open/closed IP boundary domain by domain; and (4) face the 9-month sourcing milestone and the 36-month capability review, learning whether the module shipped in time, how much innovation output the EUR 220M bought, and whether the posture leaked crown-jewel IP or starved the firm of breadth. The math rewards capability moves matched to the clock, critical-mass funding, absorptive-capacity investment and a deliberate open/closed boundary, and punishes the five classic errors — build-everything pride that misses the 9-month deadline, acquisition without absorption, renting crown-jewel competences, naive total openness that leaks IP, and thin spreading below critical mass. Final KPIs track Knowledge Breadth, Knowledge Depth, Innovation Output (patents + module readiness) and Investment Efficiency against the EUR 220M cap.