IAO News. July/August 2014

Transcription

1 Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO IAO News July/August 2014

2 Fraunhofer IAO The basis for all work undertaken at the Fraunhofer IAO is a deep conviction that business success in a globalized arena is contingent on an ability to profitably leverage new high-tech potentials. In order to optimally exploit these opportunities, companies must be capable of developing and implementing customer and employee-oriented technologies faster than their competitors. Work organization concepts must be simultaneously innovative and anthropocentric. A systematic design, in other words, is the outcome of pooled management and technical expertise. This holistic perspective when it comes to project processing ensures that equal consideration is given to commercial success, employees interests and social consequences. Through its close cooperation with the Institute for Human Factors and Technology Management (IAT) of the University of Stuttgart, Fraunhofer IAO unites basic university research with applied science and business practice. More than m 2 of offices, laboratories and technical installations are available to carry out contracted research. Our customer-focused range of services is based on the following areas of business: Corporate Development and Work Design Service and Human Resources Management Engineering Systems Information and Communication Technology Technology and Innovation Management Mobility and Urban Systems Engineering Further information twitter.com/iaostuttgart

3 overview of topics Top-class international research into tomorrow s mobility Fraunhofer IAO and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are launching a joint lab focused on mobility called the Ambient Mobility Lab. Marking the start of this collaborative effort and offering the first insights into what s to come was an opening event held on July 9, In attendance were Baden-Württemberg s Minister of Finance and Economics Nils Schmid, Jeffrey M. Hill from the Consulate General of the United States, Maria Zuber, Vice President for Research at Boston-based MIT, and a host of scientists from both institutes. NETWORK OFFICE OPENS IN CLUJ-NAPOCA Fraunhofer IAO and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (TUC-N) have been working together in the Global Digital Production innovation network in Romania for around a year. This German-Romanian collaboration is an avenue for Fraunhofer IAO to support both industrial development and industry-oriented research in Transylvania. The network office in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca opened on July 1, TENTH ANNIVERSARY FOR STUTTGART SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY FORUM The Stuttgart Software Technology Forum (SSF) has long been a fixture in the diaries of IT managers, and this year will be the tenth such event. On October 14 and 15, 2014, the SSF, conceived by users for users, will focus on the topics of master data management and information quality, IT and data integration, and enterprise search. EU DRIVER PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED The European Union s new DRIVER demonstration project aims to enhance European resilience in the face of crisis situations and ensure sustainable innovation in crisis management (CM). A distributed pan-european test bed will be built for experimentation and testing. The most useful new tools that emerge will be collected into a CM portfolio. THE TRANSFORMING WORKPLACE Modern-day office workplaces are expected to satisfy a number of requirements. Users want flexible, ergonomic and connected work environments, so Fraunhofer IAO created its newly designed multifunctional office workplace IWWP Next to meet this demand. The prototype workplace was presented together with exhibits from six other Fraunhofer Institutes in the newly created InRaum laboratory in the inhaus Center in Duisburg, Germany. TREND SURVEY BANK & ZUKUNFT 2014 More than 365 decision-makers from the banking sector took part in the Bank & Zukunft 2014 trend survey. In rating current challenges and developments, their responses reveal that banks are generally optimistic about the future. The biggest challenges remain the difficult interest rate situation and how to implement consistent, customer-oriented service. GOLD FOR THE GOLDEN CITY OF PRAGUE On June 26, 2014, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft s Morgenstadt Innovation Network honored the first winning city of the Morgenstadt City Challenge at its network meeting in Vienna. The aim of the competition, which runs until October, is to support cities in their efforts to become more future ready. Prague now has the opportunity to implement its concepts and visions using the Fraunhofer Morgenstadt model.

4 Photo l. and r.: Ludmilla Parsyak, Fraunhofer IAO Top-class international research into tomorrow s mobility Fraunhofer IAO and MIT in Boston are launching the joint»ambient Mobility Lab«With the world s population predicted to pass the nine billion mark by the year 2050 and over 75 percent of it living in cities, we need to find out how everyone will get from A to B and how to set a course for sustainable mobility. Top researchers from Germany and the USA are now on the hunt for answers to these pressing questions. Representatives from two leading authorities in this field the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO, and the SENSEable City Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are working together in the Ambient Mobility Lab. Their common goal is to develop, evaluate and apply future-ready mobility concepts. These include innovative, cutting-edge technologies such as autonomous driving, new drive concepts, sharing solutions as well as the potential applications for augmented reality. Another crucial question to address is just how these technologies can establish themselves within existing and future urban systems. Over the course of the two-day kick-off event held at Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart on July 9 and 10, scientists and politicians spoke about the German-US cooperative project that is being funded by the Land of Baden-Württemberg to the tune of 2.65 million Euros. Nils Schmid, member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and Baden-Württemberg s Minister of Finance and Economics, emphasized how integral the cooperation is to his government s e-mobility strategy. In the light of current global challenges, it is essential that we waste no time in developing future mobility concepts, said Schmid. I m especially pleased that this cooperation between Fraunhofer IAO and MIT will provide food for thought to our automotive and supplier industries. Jeffrey M. Hill from the Consulate General of the United States, Frankfurt, pointed out that experience tells us that we need to keep investing in sustainable mobility and continuously update infrastructures and tech- nology. He is convinced that over the next 15 years, the Ambient Mobility Lab s scientists and engineers will change mobility in ways we can t imagine today. Wilhelm Bauer, Head of Fraunhofer IAO, Maria Zuber, Vice President for Research at Boston-based MIT, as well as Carlo Ratti and Assaf Biderman Director and Associate Director respectively of the MIT SENSEable City Lab all underlined the exceptional significance of the international collaboration. We are delighted to support the Ambient Mobility Lab, which draws upon the enviable talent and capabilities of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and MIT, said Zuber. The synergy between MIT s penchant for developing technology to enable practical solutions and Fraunhofer s excellence in applied science is key to shaping the future of urban mobility, with a greater goal of no less than improving the human condition. I m thrilled that we have the chance to pool our expertise with MIT s in order to shape the mobility of the future, said Bauer. To do this, we need more than new mobility concepts we also need a smart IT infrastructure capable of networking these concepts successfully and integrating them into our cities in a way that benefits everyone. As our cities are quickly becoming computers in open air, new and unprecedented opportunities open up especially in the field of mobility, said Ratti. Electrification is changing propulsion, self driving is blurring the distinction between private and public transportation, data is transforming multimodality and user interaction. It is no understatement to say that we are about to witness one of the most significant mobility transformations in over a century.

5 From left to right: Dr. Nils Schmid, Minister of Finance and Economics Baden- Württemberg; Dr. Maria Zuber, Vice President for Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Prof. Wilhelm Bauer, Head of Photo: Ludmilla Parsyak, Fraunhofer IAO Fraunhofer IAO Linking the high-tech, inter-disciplinary research conducted at MIT with an application-oriented approach such as is pursued at Fraunhofer IAO is truly unique. We re factoring in the support of industrial and service companies early on. And in doing so we intend to start now to plan applied research initiatives, to test solutions and technologies, and to secure key growth markets, explains Jochen Verhasselt, manager of the Ambient Mobility Lab on the Fraunhofer IAO side. We are especially excited about looking into future-proofing mobility solutions which are now radically being impacted by the pervasive deployment of ICT, says Paolo Santi, manager of the Ambient Mobility Lab on the MIT side. MIT SENSEable City Lab The increasing deployment of sensors and hand-held electronics in recent years is allowing a new approach to the study of the built environment. The way we describe and understand cities is being radically transformed alongside the tools we use to design them and impact on their physical structure. Studying these changes from a critical point of view and anticipating them is the goal of the SENSEable City Laboratory, a new research initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A number of projects are already underway as part of the joint research phase and the first synergies are starting to emerge from the transatlantic collaboration. Among the questions being addressed are: What will tomorrow s taxis look like? How can each of us transport our private purchases in an affordable and eco-friendly way and without having to use a private vehicle? Which mobility systems are right for the future? And how can users get quick and easy access to all these concepts? Verhasselt predicts that social media and apps will have a major role to play. Fraunhofer IAO, Jochen Verhasselt Phone presse@iao.fraunhofer.de Further information

6 Network office opens Fraunhofer IAO, Universität Cluj-Napoca TUCN in Cluj-Napoca NETWORK OFFICE OPENS IN CLUJ-NAPOCA Promoting industry 4.0 in Transylvania with the Global Digital Production innovation network Many German companies have manufacturing operations in Transylvania. One of the many reasons for this is the low cost of manufacturing in Romania, where they can also work closely together with local suppliers and business partners. Around one year ago, Fraunhofer IAO and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (TUC-N) initiated an innovation network with a view to supporting such collaboration in the future and of bringing industry 4.0 to Transylvania. On July 1, 2014, the director of both Fraunhofer IAO and the Institute of Human Factors and Technology Management IAT at the University of Stuttgart, Prof. Wilhelm Bauer, and TUC-N Rector Aurel Vlaicu officially opened the innovation network s Transylvania office. Some one hundred invited representatives from the worlds of industry, research and politics took part in the opening celebrations. Collaborations between the University of Stuttgart and the prestigious TUC-N date back several years. Now, against the backdrop of German industry s strong interest in this region, industry-oriented Fraunhofer research from Stuttgart is also on its way to Transylvania. We understand how companies in Romania operate and anticipate this collaboration to yield synergy effects for the German companies active there, emphasized Bauer at the opening celebrations. He went on to say that he expects both sides to experience a surge in innovation. This view reflects how many companies are moving some of their development activities as well as production to Romania, which in turn opens up whole new collaborative relationships for the Global Digital Production network to examine and help shape. Carmen Constantinescu is in charge of coordinating Fraunhofer IAO s activities in Romania a position that allows her to use her expert knowledge of the country and its people. Her mission is to make the latest in industrial manufacturing developments driven in Germany under the banner of industry 4.0 practicable for Transylvania in a way tailored to local conditions. In addition to collaborating digitally via the data highway, personal relationships and the trust these engender play a key role in any network. This is why the partners decided to set up a joint office, paving the way for joint R&D activities carried out by the industry and research network. Other activities will include preparing strategic research projects and promoting joint, German-language study programs and scientific exchange among the TUC-N, the University of Stuttgart and Fraunhofer IAO. Fraunhofer IAO Dr.-Ing. Prof. e. h. Carmen Constantinescu Phone carmen.constantinescu@iao.fraunhofer.de

7 10 Jahre Stuttgarter Softwaretechnik Forum marigold_88 - Fotolia.com TENTH ANNIVERSARY FOR STUTTGART SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY FORUM Contributions from users and experts shed light on current challenges in the IT sector If there were one way to sum up the Stuttgart Software Technology Forum, launched in 2005, it would be Users advise users. Now, in its tenth year, this event organized by Fraunhofer IAO provides the ideal opportunity for experts, managers and IT personnel to exchange ideas. This year, speakers with relevant practical experience will talk about new developments and their own experience in the areas of master data management and information quality, IT and data integration, and enterprise search. From the beginning, the SSF has chosen to combine contributions from users and experts, explains Jürgen Falkner, who heads up the forum. This enables participants to learn about the most important trends and technologies while benefiting from the valuable experience of their colleagues. The aim is to provide participants with an understanding of current issues that will allow them to draw up specific concepts and to select and bring in appropriate IT systems. The forum also includes an exhibition section, featuring products offered by solution providers in the specific areas of interest. The schedule of talks at this year s Stuttgart Software Technology Forum will focus on the following current IT challenges: tuesday, October 14: Master data management and information quality: How do companies obtain highquality and reliable master data? wednesday, October 15: IT integration and enterprise search: How can we integrate the constantly rising tide of corporate data and make it systematically searchable? This year s SSF looks at the effect of IT trends such as big data and cloud services in relation to master data management and information quality, IT and data integration, and enterprise search. As each year in the past, the Stuttgart Software Technology Forum has picked up on urgent challenges, and this is what has made it a fixture in the diary of IAO events, says Anette Weisbecker, head of the information and communication technology business unit and deputy director of Fraunhofer IAO. Once again, we look forward to many interesting conversations with SSF participants this year. To register for SSF 2014, please follow the link below. There is the option to book for individual days if desired. Fraunhofer IAO, Jürgen Falkner Phone juergen.falkner@iao.fraunhofer.de Further information (in German)

8 Driver EU DRIVER PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED Consortium of 37 organizations collaborate to develop sustainable crisis management solutions for Europe From May 12 to 14, 2014, representatives from 13 EU member states and two associated countries came together in Madrid to launch the Driving Innovation in Crisis Management for European Resilience (DRIVER) project. Currently and for the foreseeable future, DRIVER represents the largest CM research and innovation project in Europe, if not the world. Over the next four and a half years, the consortium will drive forward the development of a pan-european test bed of virtually connected exercise facilities and crisis laboratories where users, providers, researchers, policy makers and citizens can work jointly and iteratively on new approaches and solutions to emerging crisis management issues. Providing appropriate methodologies and infrastructures will facilitate the development of relevant capabilities. The DRIVER test bed will help in putting together a portfolio of CM tools to strengthen crisis management capabilities at member state and EU level. The two key dimensions of DRIVER the test bed and the portfolio of tools are complemented by a third dimension: sharing a common understanding of crisis management across Europe. Crisis management practitioners, policy makers, technology suppliers and citizens will be invited to join the DRIVER Community. This community will enable intensive collaboration aimed at developing and implementing societal and technological innovation in CM. Fraunhofer IAO is in charge of the civilian resilience project s scientific aspects. The purpose of this subproject is to come up with new ways to inform, motivate and involve the public during crisis situations, and to road test these ideas in collaboration with professional crisis managers including the Red Cross in particular. In addition, Fraunhofer IAO will help cities to perform better in crisis situations, and will structure skills management for the participating organizations from different European countries. Fraunhofer IAO s cooperation partner, the Institute for Human Factors and Technology Management IAT at the University of Stuttgart, will be in charge of simulating the effects of communication strategies with the public and developing formats for addressing those wishing to help. The project is coordinated by European IT services leader Atos with technical and scientific support from the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis (INT). DRIVER is funded the tune of 33.4 million euros as part of the European Commission s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ ) under Grant Agreement n Fraunhofer IAO, Dr. Wolf Engelbach Phone wolf.engelbach@iao.fraunhofer.de

9 Photo: Jörg Bakschas, Headroom Consult, Fraunhofer IAO THE TRANSFORMING WORKPLACE Flexible workplace for the office of tomorrow undergoes field tests in the Fraunhofer-inHaus-Center In today s mobile post-pc era, the increasingly flexible, mobile and connected way people work is changing the requirements they have of their modern office workplaces. Fraunhofer IAO has responded to this shift by coming up with IWWP Next, one of its latest innovations. IWWP stands for Information Worker s Workplace. The core idea underpinning this workplace concept is its suitability for use in the different environments and areas of work found in the modern-day work world. The furniture is fitted with wheels, which enables users to rearrange the workstation structure in seconds and convert it into something else, such as a white board for ad hoc meetings. Portable devices such as laptops or tablets can be easily connected, and smartphones can be charged wirelessly via the tabletop. Thanks to sophisticated technology integration and the use of batteries, the workplace is also flexible enough to be used locally without electricity and can be controlled using an RFID company ID card or via a smartphone. Lockable compartments for sensitive data and open boxes offering impromptu storage space complete the workplace. Along with other innovations from several Fraunhofer Institutes, Dreharov s development is now being field tested and put into practice. On Monday, June 16, 2014, a new living laboratory was opened in inhaus2 of the Fraunhofer-inHaus- Center in Duisburg in order to study innovations for the workplace of tomorrow. The objectives of the collaborative framework project inraum-atmo (Assistive Multifunctional Systemized Office) include increasing productivity, improving workflows, optimizing wellbeing and reducing corporate operating costs. Fraunhofer IAO, Nikolay Dreharov Phone nikolay.dreharov@iao.fraunhofer.de While developing IWWP Next, Nikolay Dreharov from Fraunhofer IAO also considered a number of other factors to be significant. It was important to me to create a workplace that is very versatile but that also allows the user to work well. With this in mind we have made it so the workplace recognizes its user and the current work situation and automatically assumes the corre - sponding ergonomic profile by changing the individually adjust - able table height and LED light settings. The LED light, called Heliosity, provides optimal brightness and color temperature around the clock, and can also be adjusted individually by the user.

10 Julien Eichinger - Fotolia.com TREND SURVEY BANK & ZUKUNFT 2014 Latest edition in the survey series reveals trends and developments in the financial sector Once a year as part of the Bank & Zukunft trend survey series, Fraunhofer IAO polls executives and decision-makers from the banking and financial sector. The aim of the survey is to canvass opinion about current developments and trends in the banking market. Despite the present difficult market situation, the majority of banks in German-speaking countries are expecting business to head in a generally positive direction over the coming years. Nevertheless, the biggest challenge facing banks decisionmakers is the prevailing preference of policymakers for keeping interest rates low. It remains to be seen just how long banks traditional business models for private customers can hold up before they start losing their grip on further key areas of revenue. This year s trend survey also points out what measures are in the pipeline, as well as areas and levels of investment for over-the-counter business, direct sales and IT management. Concluding the Bank & Zukunft 2014 trend survey is look ahead to various developments relating to Bank For more detailed information on the survey and on the Innovationsforum Bank & Zukunft collaborative research project, visit or get in touch with the contact person below. Rather than shying away from these challenges, banks are this year once again showing renewed dedication to customers and customer management. However, the survey s findings reveal that although banks are indeed focusing on customer management, they still remain unwilling and unable to implement compelling customer-oriented service. Customer focus extends no further than getting customers actively involved in both business processes and innovation management an area in which banking still lags other sectors. In the Bank & Zukunft innovation forum s new publication, Fraunhofer IAO highlights ways in which banks can change this situation while at the same time tapping new sources of revenue. Fraunhofer IAO, Claus-Peter Praeg Phone claus-peter.praeg@iao.fraunhofer.de Further information (in German) Order the publication (in German) The study s findings suggest that bankers are still failing to look beyond their own operations and market. As a result, many do not yet consider the growth in financial service start-ups as any real threat. Time will tell how long this point of view can be maintained.

11 Fraunhofer IAO GOLD FOR THE GOLDEN CITY OF PRAGUE European cultural capital wins first of two Morgenstadt City Challenge awards The move toward CO 2 -neutral, energy-efficient and climateproof cities calls for new solutions and strategies. So far, twenty cities across Germany and the rest of Europe, each with corresponding plans in place and seeking help to implement their strategies, have applied to take part in the Morgenstadt City Challenge competition. The first winner has now been chosen from among those cities that submitted complete applications to the initial selection round. The competition was launched by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft s high-profile Morgenstadt Innovation Network, which will support the three winning cities on their way to improved sustainability. In the first of two selection heats, Prague won the jury over with a series of urban development projects it already has in motion. These included plans to continue the successful development of Prague Airport over the coming years. The city has created a challenging mix of new-building and renovation projects by working up a series of mixed-use neighborhoods. For Prague, the successful transition to sustainable mobility and energy systems is a high priority. Tomás Ctibor, head of the Prague Institute of Planning and Development, presented a convincing but fledgling strategy process for sustainable urban development to the panel of twenty network partners made up of industrial and city representatives and Fraunhofer researchers. One of the main factors that influenced the jury s decision was the clear commitment shown to the plans and upcoming investments by the city s key decision-makers. The project has the full support of all urban departmental heads. Dr. Eckhart Hertzsch, deputy chairman of the Morgenstadt: City Insights Innovation Network and head of the National Platform for the City of the Future, presented the winner s certificate to the European cultural capital s official representative. Our research trips to the various cities taking part in our proj ect already revealed numerous interesting examples of practical ways in which cities are tackling the very different challenges they face. Prague is an important and exciting addition to our research network, emphasized Alanus von Radecki, project manager for Morgenstadt: City Insights, a sub-project of the Morgenstadt (city of tomorrow) initiative. He is looking forward to the forthcoming collaboration with the city, as the next step involves using the newly developed Fraunhofer Morgenstadt model as a basis for taking their ideas further and putting them into practice. The German city of Darmstadt also managed to secure numerous votes and is still able to apply for selection in the second round. The competition is open to major cities with more than inhabitants and a clearly defined sustainability strategy. Competitors have until October 10, 2014, to apply for the opportunity to rank among the pioneers of sustainable urban development. Fraunhofer IAO, Alanus von Radecki Phone alanus.radecki@iao.fraunhofer.de Further information

12 Published by Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO Public Relations Nobelstrasse 12, Stuttgart, Germany Phone , Fax Editorial staff Verena Krug, Juliane Segedi, Tabea Friedel, Maarit Plewka, Laura Terberl Layout and typesetting Valentin Buhl Cover page Photo: Jörg Bakschas, Headroom Consult, Fraunhofer IAO Sign up for our online newsletter Reprints free of charge. A voucher copy would be appreciated in case of publication. This bulletin is also available in German as IAO-News. fraunhofer.de/anmeldung. php?lang=en&id=12