News 2024

The Frankfurt summit (Oct 21-22, 2024) discussed advancing Germany's digital transformation, with DFKI presenting AI solutions.

At FILTECH 2024 in Cologne from November 12 to 14, 2024, Dr. Ralf Kirsch and his team will be presenting innovative approaches to the simulation-based improvement of filter technology.

The focus will be on the challenge of designing digital twins in separation technology more comprehensively by considering the entire process chain. 

The book »Forscherinnen im Fokus – Wir schaffen Veränderung« (Female researchers in focus – we are creating change) showcases extraordinary female scientists and their personal success stories, with a focus on artificial intelligence. »Frau N. Hofer«, as it is known for short, inspires women to discover the opportunities in STEM research and to get excited about applied research.

In the first episode of our new mini-series, we examine whether AI is just »glorified statistics«. We explain the terms AI and Machine Learning using specific examples and offer our audience an interactive task: how does an AI recognize a rectangle on a checkered sheet of paper?

The experts at Fraunhofer ITWM are using simulations to support DesCap GmbH in optimizing the design of face visors.

They report on the exciting cooperation on the project page.

With the AAS Dataspace for Everybody, Fraunhofer IESE, together with other partners, offers a platform for the uncomplicated sharing of data based on Eclipse BaSyx. This allows companies to create digital twins along their production lines and enables them to calculate their CO2 footprint or create digital product passports.

DFKI is developing LUMINOUS, a system that analyzes impressions in real time and makes recommendations for action. It supports neurorehabilitation, safety training and 3D architecture verification. Users interact with avatars to facilitate everyday activities and overcome communication deficits.

On September 10, 2024, the »BewegungsForscher« project kicked off with a workshop at the Theodor Zink Museum. Citizens and specialists worked on a smart orthosis, a walker for fracture patients. The next workshop will take place in November 2024.

The new EU regulation to combat deforestation requires the documentation of wood species and the legal origin of imported wood products. To make this easier, the Fraunhofer ITWM is developing AI analysis software for automatic wood species identification in the »KI-Wood« project together with the Thünen Institute of Wood Research.

What challenges does the healthcare sector face? And how can mathematics help? In this interview, Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Küfer and Dr. Alexander Scherrer from Fraunhofer ITWM talk about their work in the »Optimization in the Life Sciences« department and the progress they have made so far.

The incubator »Start.Smart.Connect Kaiserslautern« (SSC KL) is funding 6G start-ups with two million euros until 2027, supporting research teams with business plans and laboratory resources and networking them with industry. The aim is to exchange knowledge and promote innovation in Germany.

Thomas has been working at Fraunhofer IESE since 2009 and is a specialist in anesthesia. His experience at the Westpfalz-Klinikum has made him an expert in digital healthcare. The challenges of using IT in medicine are great, but necessary.

Artificial intelligence can not only generate funny pictures and songs. It can also become an important aid in the healthcare sector. In an interview with RHEINPFALZ editor Maximilian Schenk, university professor Norbert Rösch talks about the opportunities and risks of this still young technology.

Doctoral students from Kaiserslautern and Landau used the Young Researchers Symposium (YRS) of the TU-Nachwuchsring at RPTU and the Center for Simulation and Software-based Innovation at the beginning of August to present their own research to a non-specialist audience. The best contributions were awarded prizes with a total value of 6,000 euros.

With 28 out of a total of 30 points we once again took first place in this year's ranking of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's 21 High-Performance Centers. It shows that the close cooperation between university and non-university research leads to outstanding results in Kaiserslautern. 

Because highly dynamic processes often cannot be satisfactorily mapped with conventional software, we have developed a solution with the MESHFREE tool that can simulate complex processes cost-effectively. We will be awarded the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize 2024 for this software.

What does the professional world of a mathematician look like and what is applied mathematics? 18 selected schoolgirls found out at our institute. Our Math Talent School from 3 to 7 June 2024 was organized by the Felix Klein Centre for Mathematics as a girls' camp.

DFKI and Inria are forming an academic tandem for the third time at the French German Tech-Lab at the high-tech and start-up fair Vivatechnology in Paris. In the presence of political representatives from both countries, the two partners are expanding their cooperation and thus strengthening cross-border start-up funding.

From May 6 to 8, around 20 students in grades ten and eleven came together at RPTU for a physics seminar and the third round of the state physics competition. They attended physics workshops and experimented in the laboratory. The program included wave optics, measurement techniques and working in the physics laboratory. 

22 female students from Kaiserslautern, Neustadt, Ramstein or Worms took the opportunity to spend a day at the Fraunhofer ITWM on Girls' Day on April 25, 2024. A varied program including a rally showed the participants the range and atmosphere at the world's largest institute for industrial mathematics.

For three years, they have been working on their projects and volunteering their time – and at the beginning of April, they were rewarded for their efforts. 27 students from Rhineland-Palatinate successfully took part in the state mathematics competition. The competition ended with the award ceremony at the Fraunhofer ITWM.

In this interview, Christine Pauli, second place winner in the  »Best Talk«  category of the YRS 2022, talks about her presentation, the competition and encourages all doctoral students to apply!

From the start of the 2024/25 winter semester, the traditional engineering courses at the University of Kaiserslautern will be offered as dual studies. The range of courses includes mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechatronics and energy engineering.

The Green-AI Hub Mobile has exemplary AI solutions on board that show how artificial intelligence helps to save energy and resources. Together with Stefan Demuth, Managing Director of the coordinating Zukunft – Umwelt – Gesellschaft gGmbH, and Professor Oliver Thomas from the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Steffi Lemke gave the go-ahead for the Green-AI Hub Mobil.

The project »Applied Quantum Computing« (AnQuC) project funded by the Rhineland-Palatinate state government will come to an end at the end of April 2024. This is why the quantum computing working group has now met with the industrial advisory board, which accompanied the project for two years, for a summary.

On March 12, 2020, 31 outstanding female STEM students from universities all over Germany visited the Fraunhofer Center in Kaiserslautern. The Femtec network scholarship holders, most of them with an international background, got to know both Fraunhofer Institutes better during a varied program.

Optimizing batteries is one of the most important tasks for industry and science. At the Fraunhofer ITWM, the simulation of battery models has been part of day-to-day business for years. The Ministry of Science and Health is now supporting a new project that models the entire manufacturing process.

From the 18th to 23 February, 36 students in years 10, 11 and 12 from all over Rhineland-Palatinate came together for the Felix Klein Modelling Week. At Gerolstein Youth Hostel, they learn how to solve problems using mathematical modelling and computer simulations based on authentic problems from professional practice.

After six years, Dr Matthias Jung is leaving his position as Deputy Director of our High-Performance Centre due to his professorship in Computer Engineering at the University of Würzburg. His successor, Zai Müller-Zhang, intends to focus on the development of new methods and the transfer of results to industry.

Dr. Stefan Rutzika's team from the Department of Mathematics at RPTU Kaiserslautern investigated the use of the eye-tracking technique in several studies. This involves recording the eye movements of pupils as they work on various tasks. The results can be used to improve learning systems so that they adapt to the individual strengths and weaknesses of the learner.

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on mobile devices has so far been less efficient due to limited computing power, storage space and power supply. To change this, DFKI is working together with the French computer science institute Inria on a new approach to reduce model size and computing effort by using »Frugal AI«.