Siemens, the world’s largest industrial manufacturing company, has announced plans to expand its strategic alliance with Bentley Systems to enhance its digital engineering services and solutions. As per trusted sources, the joint innovation investment program would have a total funding of up to €100 million, a raise from the €50 million announced initially. 

From what sources close to the matter believe, the expansion is also supported through a stock acquisition by Siemens into Bentley’s secondary shares which means Siemens would now have a 9% stake in Bentley.

Klaus Helmrich, member of the Managing Board of Siemens, reportedly stated that the firm is impressed with the way its alliance with Bentley began. The firm plans to invest further to take the partnership to the next level and would augment Bentley’s engineering and product management tools with its own collaboration platform Teamcenter. This platform would assist the firm in developing a full Digital Twin for the engineering and construction world, Helmrich added.

Reportedly, the Digital Twin would be developed in Teamcenter and can be shared among stakeholders with the Connected Data Environment of Bentley.

Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems was quoted saying that Bentley’s alliance with Siemens till date has only created valuable opportunities. In the wake of the company’s jointly offered products hitting the market, the future digital co-ventures would be prioritized, Bentley added.   

As per sources familiar with the matter, Siemens and Bentley have been collaborating since 2016 and have termed the partnership as a ‘strategic alliance’. In June, both the firms reportedly launched a Process Industries Academy that would assist companies in developing better digital strategies across their asset lifecycles and become more competitive.

Sources also revealed that Siemens had garnered a total revenue of €83 billion in 2017 with a net income amounting to €6.2 billion.