EIT ICT Labs: News

Trifense wins EIT ICT Entrepreneurship Award

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

"I am very proud on the really innovative and diverse start-ups we brought to the competition", says EIT ICT Labs CEO Willem Jonker.

"Each of them a worthy candidate and well presenting. I congratulate Trifense winning the first EIT
Entrepreneurship Award." "Trifense being the winner shows the growing importance of security solutions in the digital society.
I hope that this European level recognition will give an additional boost to the further development
of Trifense."

Destination Europe – here’s US looking at us …

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0100

With the focus on “Europe being a fertile soil for innovation”, CEO Willem Jonker presented the research and innovation opportunities provided by EIT ICT Labs at the conference “Destination Europe” held in Cambridge, Massachusetts on January 20, 2012. The conference is the first in a series of initiatives taken by the European Commission, DG RTD (Research & Innovation) with the objective to raise awareness of the attractiveness of Europe as an excellent location for research and innovation and especially highlighting the attractive opportunities for women researchers in Europe. Among the speakers were RTD Commissioner Màire Geoghegan-Quinn, Dragos Mihael Ciuparu (President of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, Ministry of Education, Research, Sport and Youth), Riitta Mustonen (Vice-President Research Academy of Finland), Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (Director Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques), Donald Dingwell (Secretary General European Research Council), John Wood (Chair of the European Research & Innovation Area Board), Kurt Deketelaere (Secretary General of the League of European Research Universities) and Tim Hunt (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine). The Conference addressed in particular researchers interested in new options for developing their careers by moving to or returning to Europe. For them it was an opportunity to engage in and contribute to the discussion with high-level policy makers, top researchers and business leaders. In his presentation, CEO Willem Jonker showed how EIT ICT Labs contribute to the vibrant science and technology culture in Europe that offers excellent career and funding opportunities for researchers and innovators - no matter where they come from in the world. EIT ICT Labs equips students, researchers, academics and business people with skills for creativity, risk taking spirit and entrepreneurial capacity. Boosting existing activities towards world-class performance and leveraging existing regional, national and EU-level funding instruments is the foundation. Willem Jonker guided the audience through the journey that EIT ICT Labs has taken from the establishment of the first European co-location centres, to implementing specific processes and models that today enables supporting start-ups, coaching SME's and entrepreneurs, as well as enhancing the use and accessibility of pan-European test-beds ( e.g. FITTING project). Launching the EIT ICT Labs Master School, that includes a unique programme in ICT Innovation for entrepreneurial ICT students with a broad European perspective and establishing the first EIT ICT Labs Industrial Doctoral Training Centres, shows that we within Europe is serious in our ambition to attract new talent to complement and catalyse the talent we already have. Willem Jonker also had the pleasure to personally meet with RTD Commissioner Màire Geoghegan-Quinn during the European Career Fair that took place the following day, January 21st, at MIT. This Fair offered an opportunity to facilitate matching between European employers and some of the brightest researchers who are interested in a career in Europe and increase the awareness in the US of the opportunities that European research offers. The European Commission is partnering with the ECF since 2007 to promote Europe as a great place to pursue a career in science and technology, be it in industrial research, research organizations, academia or science policy. EU Member States will promote participation by their national research organizations and companies engaged in research. See more on the European Commission website for Research & Innovation and Euro career

Lucia Recalde visit Stockholm CLC

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:04:00 +0100

By invitation of the KTH Rector, Lucia Recalde at EC/EAC came to KTH on February 1st to discuss Horizon 2020 and EIT contribution, and meet with the Committee for Parliamentarians and Researchers (Forskare och Riksdagsmän). She also took the opportunity to visit both EIT ICT Labs and KIC InnoEnergy and meet with Education Directors Hannu Tenhunen and Torsten Fransson. During her visit to the EIT ICT Labs Stockholm Co-location Centre, the Stockholm Node and partners presented ongoing activities and development plans for 2012. Interesting discussions followed on how to develop the EIT ICT Labs Co-location Centres and how the EIT ICT Labs can support start-ups further.

Valérie Issarny new Paris Node Director

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:10:00 +0100

Valérie Issarny is a Research Director at Inria since 2001 and since 2002 the head of the ARLES Inria research project team at the Paris-Rocquencourt centre. Her research interests relate to distributed systems, software architectures, pervasive computing / ambient intelligence systems and middleware. Valerie Issarny got both her PhD and her "Habilitation à diriger des recherches", in Computer Science at Université de Rennes I, France, in 1991 and 1997, respectively. She has (co)authored over 150 technical papers in the area of distributed systems and software engineering. Since the start of her career Valérie Issarny has been involved in International collaborative projects. In particular she has contributed to several collaborative EU projects as PIs. Furthermore she was the coordinator of the FP6 IST STREP PLASTIC project, and is currently the coordinator of the FP7 FET IP CONNECT project and scientific leader of the FET IP CHOReOS project. Valérie Issarny has also led national projects in collaboration with industry, i e projects with France-Télécom R&D and Alcatel. She regularly acts as a scientific expert at the national (for the AERES, ANR, and regional programmes) and international levels (for the EC and national programmes of Austria, Belgium, HK, Ireland, NL, Qatar, UK, etc).

Trento the sixth node of EIT ICT Labs

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:24:00 +0100

Trento Node Director Roberto Saracco states that the Trento team is proud of becoming a Node of EIT ICT Labs, being excited and motivated to join the other Nodes in their efforts as main players in the formation of the future information society.

About EIT ICT Labs Trento Node
The Trento Node focuses on leveraging ICT for Quality of Life. Co-located in the FBK Research complex in Povo, Trento, in front of the University of Trento it is close to its core partners - Engineering, Telecom Italia and TrentoRise. Affiliate partners are Centro Ricerca FIAT (CRF), STMicroelectronics, Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, Università di Bologna, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna di Pisa. The location is at the core of the Trentino Region, an area rich in communications infrastructures and bristling with innovative companies (it is sometimes referred to as Semantic Valley).
Read more…

Trento Node Director Roberto Saracco
Roberto Saracco has since 2001 been the Director of the Future Centre in Venice and responsible for innovative telecommunications architectures and scientific communications reporting directly to the Strategy Officer of Telecom Italia.

Read more

Master School application open 1/1-15/2!

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:08:00 +0100

At the Master School website you can find information about all the available choices of our Master's programmes in ICT Innovation that are offered in various combinations at around 20 universities in Europe. Make your choice of seven technical majors with the help of our track finder. Read what is included in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship minor that will provide you with an extra degree and an EIT ICT Labs certificate. You are also welcome to contact the Master School Office at masterschool@ictlabs.eu and follow the latest news and events via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. - By emphasising on connecting students to European eco systems, providing career specific values, combining a strong technical education with entrepreneurial and innovative skills, the EIT ICT Labs Master's Programme in ICT Innovation will challenge and eventually change the education systems, says Prof. Carl-Gustaf Jansson, Director EIT ICT Labs Master School. Prof. Willem Jonker, CEO EIT ICT Labs, expresses his personal commitment to the EIT ICT Labs Master School:
-EIT ICT Labs is about mobilising people for sustainable ICT Innovation in Europe by integrating top ICT Research, Education and Business. Our master school reflects this through strong industrial involvement as well as strong alignment with research in societal challenges.
I hope you will join us in this endeavor.

The EIT ICT Labs Master School web is launched!

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:49:00 +0100

In the fall of 2012 EIT ICT Labs Master School will be able to welcome its first approx 200 students. Today we launched the website - eitictlabs.masterschool.eu - where you can find all information about the various choices of our Master's programmes in ICT Innocation that are offered in different combinations at almost 20 universities in Europe.

Visit the website to also find out more about how it combines a technical major and a minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, providing graduates with double degrees and a special EIT and EIT ICT Labs certificate. Students who will take the chance and fullfill the programme will gain a fantastic network of exclusive contacts with leading research and business organisations and fellow students all over Europe. The application period opens on January 1 and closes on February 15. Follow the latest news and events via Facebook,YouTube and LinkedIn.

Finnish smart energy startup on the rise

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:31:00 +0100

Asema Electronics Ltd from Finland won a special prize at the Slush 2011 start-up event early November in Helsinki. The winner gets the chance to meet with leading European investors at the EIT ICT Labs Business Club in Paris early December. Asema Electronics is a specialist in bringing smart energy to consumers.

- Asema Electronics won because of their innovative, sustainable approach, scalability of the business and good growth opportunities in Europe. It also links closely to our smart energy action line, explains Mika Naumanen, lead for the Business and Entrepreneurs Club activities at EIT ICT Labs. Reducing electricity consumption by more than 10% The Asema E electricity saver intelligently controls lights and appliances but also helps consumers buy cheaper electricity. It aims to reduce the household or office electricity consumption by 10% and pay the investment back in two years.
- You can centrally control all your appliances and lighting and even do this remotely. For example if you have left your coffee machine on at home, you could switch it off from your office, explains Jani Hursti, CEO of Asema Electronics. The system connects directly to the Nordic power market NordPool and knows the exact price of electricity 36 hours beforehand. It automatically helps consumers in getting the full benefit of market price fluctuations by running heaters, chargers, and home appliances like the dishwasher when electricity is cheap.

Huge market potential Dr. Jani Hursti founded the company in March 2011 when he bought a smart socket spin-off from VTT, Widsen Oy, and merged it to his own company that developed an energy display. Asema Electronics now employes seven persons and is based at Aalto Venture Garage in Otaniemi, Finland. After pilots in Sweden and Norway their product Asema E is ready for launch.
- We are thrilled by the opportunity offered to us by EIT ICT Labs to meet with leading European investors. The problems we face with climate change and saving energy are pan-European, so finding the right European partners is key to our success, Jani Hursti points out. With 250 million smart meters expected to be installed in Europe by 2020, and a 10% reduction in user’s electricity bill, Asema Electronics market looks very promising. Asema Electronics has been named a finalist in the Finnish National Innovation Awards of 2011.
For more information : www.asema.com

Slush 2011 – leading start-up event in Northern Europe Slush is the leading start-up conference in Northern Europe that brought together the best start-ups in the Nordic region, top VCs from Europe and Silicon Valley, angel investors, and tech industry professionals in Helsinki, Finland. There were 100 start-up pitches. The winner of the first prize was Ovelin, a company who has also been awarded for the best learning game in 2011, with their WildChord concept on making people enjoy learning to play an instrument. Asema Electronics was the first runner-up.
For more information: www.slush.fi

Johanna Gavefalk new Head of Marcom for EIT ICT Labs

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:39:00 +0100

Johanna Gavefalk is taking up the position as Head of MarCom for EIT ICT Labs as of January 2012 and will be stationed in Stockholm. Formerly she's been working as the European Sales & Marketing Manager, Electrolux Floor Care & Small Appliances AB, C&A and as such managed an international team in Europe, coordinating sales and business activities, competitive analysis, sales channel management, product marketing, PR activities, communication and development of sales tools within the FMCG area.

Before joining Electrolux in 2004, then as Manager for Product Management, Sales & Business Support, Johanna Gavefalk held various positions within Ericsson AB in Kista, such as Value Argumentation Manager, Project Leader, Market Analyst and Marketing Coordinator. During 1990's she worked in Singapore as Marketing Executive for BASI and PR & Communication Manager for SIT Pte Ltd and in the Philippines as Editor and Board Member of Scandinavian Society.

Johanna Gavefalk has a Degree in Business Administration with focus on Internatonal Marketing.

Olivier Festor new Research Director

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 15:47:00 +0100

Olivier Festor is a research director at INRIA Nancy—Grand Est where he leads the MADYNES research team. He has a Ph.D. degree (1994) and an Habilitation degree (2001) from Henri-Poincare University, Nancy, France. He spent 3 years at the IBM European Networking Center in Heidelberg, Germany and one year at the EURECOM Institute in Nice, France. His research interests are in the design of algorithms and models for automated management and organization of large scale networks and services in the Future Internet. This includes monitoring, anomaly detection, safe configuration, fuzzing and vulnerability assessment. He has published more than 80 papers in network and service management and serves in the technical program and organization committees as well as in the editorial boards of several international conferences and journals. He was TPC Co-chair of IFIP/IEEE IM'2005 and IFIP/IEEE in cooperation with ACM SIGCOMM CNSM'2011. He was leading the EMANICS European Network of Excellence dedicated to Management Solutions for the Future Internet (2006-2010) and is current co-chair of the IFIP TC6 Working Group 6.6 and co-chair of the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) Network Management Research Group (NMRG).

Startup wins 1 year of coaching with EIT ICT Labs

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:56:00 +0100

A Startup weekend is an intense 54 hour event that focuses on transforming high tech, design, web or mobile business idea into a prototype, market strategy or business case.The weekend brings together people with different skills – primarily developers, creatives and entrepreneurs – to create prototypes and develop commercial cases. The Eindhoven Startup weekend gathered 60 partipants that formed 10 teams and pitched 32 ideas. At the end of the weekend five of the teams had working prototypes. The jury, including EIT ICT Labs Eindhoven Node Director Patrick Strating, selected team Fairy Tale as the winner. Their application uses augmented reality to encourage children to play outdoors. According to the jury hhey have found a valuable niche by responding to the desire from parents to see their children actively playing outside. The first prize is being coached intensively by EIT ICT Labs for a whole year! Also, the winning team will be able to attend the presentation of successful entrepreneur Ash Maurya who flew in especially from Sillicon Valley to share the latest in lean startup. Niek Otten, one of the founders of the Fairy Tale application:
- We got the opportunity to pitch our idea on BNR Newsradio. As we received very enthusiastic feedback on our idea, we decided to pitch it during the event and it turned out to be worthwhile! - We were also lucky that we were able to form a team of people with complementary skills - two industrial designers (TU/e), an i-phone developer and a marketing expert. This, together with the help of mentors and a positive and cooperative team spirit did the trick.

- Events like Startup Weekend make you realise that only having a good initiative or smart concept doesn't get you there. You need complementary skills, whether it is in marketing, research, IT support, you name it, to get to real implementation!" Find here some facts of this Startup Weekend and some video footage of the grand finale. Pictures are available on Flickr, #swEindhoven and #startupweekend tags. Updates on progress and planning for next edition (March 16-18, 2012) are found at #swEindhoven on Twitter.

EIT ICT Labs and ITEA2 announced collaboration

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:59:00 +0200

CEO Willem Jonker from EIT ICT Labs and Chairman Rudolf Haggenmüller from ITEA2 announced the agreement for joint collaboration at the ITEA-Artemis Co-Summit in Helsinki on Wednesday 26 October. “A lot of our partners are also active in ITEA2 so it makes sense to join forces. Many of ITEA’s ongoing projects make good carrier projects and by applying EIT ICT Labs' catalysts we can get innovations faster to the market.“ Willem Jonker points out. Rudolf Haggenmüller stated his strong support for the cooperation. "EIT ICT Labs can strengthen the business impact of ITEA and speed up the exploitation of research results" says Rudolf Haggenmüller.

Hacking for green ICT services

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:26:00 +0200

The use of open data from official sources, varying from transport to food to reading, was combined with excellent development skills and knowhow in environmental studies. The multidisciplinary, sustainable aspects were maybe a contributing factor to the unusually high percentage of female participants – 20 percent.

- We had a great mix of people and sharing some truly impressive hacks, stated James Smith, AMEE, London, who won with a CO2 adaptation of the game Minecraft. It is about ad hoc collaboration and everyone who is here is so for a reason, it is important and useful. We are not competing, we are creating services.

- It is about ad hoc collaboration and everyone who is here is here for a reason, continued James Smith. It is important and useful. We are not competing, we are creating services. The event was a success with a great mix of people and some truly impressive hacks, according to James Smith.

He was even more content with ending up as the winner for his adaptation of the game Minecraft. Combining real data with gaming features she could show in an entertaining way how the incineration of various materials, trees and wood but also cows and sheep, resulted in different energy output and emissions.

The second winner had also focused on carbon emissions but had worked with a more practical consumer oriented web service targeting the way we choose between different travel options. By making us remember the CO2 equivalent on “last minute trips” we might consider choosing differently.
Jorge Zapico, and Hannes Ebner, KTH, who had set up the Green Hackathon were pleased with the outcome. The concept is now moving on and will be set up, next in Helsinki and then in Cambridge. The services that can be provided by structuring green data is evident in the company Sourcemap where Jorge Zapico also works together with the events key note speaker and founder Leo Bonanni. The application provides information on where the resources or parts of products are coming from and their carbon footprint.

The event was organized by EIT ICT Labs (Stockholm Node) and KTH Center for Sustainable Communication CESC, supported by Agro-Know, Stockholm Stad, Ericsson, Sourcemap and 46elks.

Entreprenurship is about learning by doing

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:02:00 +0200

The conference provided inspiring entrepreneurial role models and practical advice for setting-up a business. The students also got more insights on the EIT and KICsʼ entrepreneurship and education activities.

Can Entrepreneurship be taught?

EIT ICT Labs PhD student in Computer Science Khalid Latif, gave testimony on how he had come to embrace entrepreneurship through his combined MBA studies at Turku School of Economics, Finland . Satu Jääskeläinen, Turku and Aalto University, also gave insights into what can be gained from combined studies in business skills and ICT.

Hannu Tenhunen, EIT ICT Labs Education Director focused on the dreams of students and how EIT ICT Labs facilitate in making it possible for students to realise them through our education programs, through extra curriculum activities in the CLC’s and through our business networking activities.

- We bring people together, we create partnerships and trust as well as develop processes that are scalable and systematic. In order to make dreams come true some hard work is required.

Learning by doing and failing

That is what Entrepreneurship is about according to the many experienced entrepreneurs who shared their knowledge and efforts at the EIT conference Youth & Entrepreneurship – Drivers of Innovation.
At the conference in Krakow the three KICs of EIT came together to showcase education and entrepreneurship activities, learning from and interacting with each other. All three KICs presented the “ingredients for success” on entrepreneurship activities.

EIT ICT Labs CEO Willem Jonker presented the direction of EIT ICT Labs gearing up to full speed ahead for 2012. The Master School will soon be launched and next year will see the development of DTCs in all Nodes. He also proved the value of true European collaboration in the example of joining national resources in the FITTING activity which enhances and improves the utilisation of wireless network test beds.

More results to come from the Innovation factories

In the opening address by Alexander von Gabain, new chairman of EIT since September 15, he declared that EIT should not be regarded as a European MIT. It is rather an investment fund and the KICs are the innovation factories of Europe. Vice chairman Anders Flodström was impressed with the days in Krakow and was reassured that the KICs were highly operational. He concluded by looking forward to next year’s conference with even more results to show.

More information on the conference is available at the EIT website.

A meeting of presidents at KTH

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:29:00 +0200

Willem Jonker, CEO EIT ICT Labs, presented the KIC's state of affairs and opened up for discussion on the many aspects to consider and develop as the various education activities are launched. In 2012, a goal in the Education Action Line for the Doctoral School is to set up an Industrial Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) in the Co-location Centres at each Node of EIT ICT Labs. The DTC concept is something inbetween a research team and a lab, sharing a common theme or technology and will consist of approximately 30-40 people with a refill of 8-10 new doctors each year. Next year will be the first year of the EIT ICT Labs Master School, which has been a challenge to set up with 20 different universities involved. The final agreements are being signed and the website that will be the main marketing tool and portal for application and information is to be launched soon. - In 2011 we have already had more than 350 students who have participated in summer schools aligned to the thematic areas of EIT ICT Labs, stated Education Director Hannu Tenhunen. In the master school the students will be able to choose the university to enter and for the first year consisting of a technical base content (technical major). Then they can choose which university they will spend their second year at, with different specialisations and then also have a choice of different business partners that offer internships and mentorships. Our mission is to find and support the students with dreams and facilitate, enhance and deepen their options, concluded Hannu Tenhunen. After a very successful day the host, KTH president Peter Gudmundson suggested to continue with the format and arrange similar meetings on an annual basis at a new KIC partner university each year. TU Berlin accepted the call and will host it in 2012 when other short term and strategic future goals will be on the agenda.

Winners of Smart Grid Innovation Contest

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 19:40:00 +0200

With the slogan - Join the grid - energize the world – Siemens asked for contributions of ideas and market insights in competition but also in cooperation with a large community of Smart Grid experts around the globe.

The aim of the contest is to speed up innovation by finding new business models that change the game, provide applications for new customer benefits and develop disruptive technologies to enable a smarter world.

EIT ICT Labs Christian Huder won the second prize for his insights in comparing regulatory approaches and their implications on business models concerning smart grids. The jury stated that: "The regulatory issues are of great relevance for the future of the smart grids. This information could generate real business value for enterprises operating in this field."

Siemens has a 1M euro budget for translating the best ideas into innovation by collaboration with universities. They also aim to translate the resulting mature innovations into products, services and solutions and are therefore planning additional large investments.

In 2005 the European Union adopted the "Smart Grid" concept - a vision of intelligent, flexibly controllable electrical generation, distribution and consumption. The breakthrough of Smart Grid applications strongly depends on attractive business models which combine the technologies and economic benefits for all stakeholders.

Wellbeing Innovation Camp visits Philips Research

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 17:20:00 +0200

During five days in late September, fifty master students from Aalto (Helsinki), KTH Stockholm), TU Berlin, Budapest and 3TU were in Eindhoven for the second week of the summer school on Health and Wellbeing. The first week took place a few weeks earlier in Vierumäki (near Lahti) in Finland and was focused on questions how ICT could foster a more healthy lifestyle. During that week the students worked in small project groups on new products and business models. During the second week they were elaborating their concepts from a user perspective point of view, and turning the ideas into real business propositions.

The aim of the summer school is to exercise entrepreneurial skills within the context of a larger thematic area (such as health and wellbeing) and to engage the students with industrial partners. In this case Philips was the host and students spent a day at the premises of the User Experience Lab of Philips at the HighTech Campus in Eindhoven. The programme consisted of two activities: “focus group” discussions, where senior Philips staff discussed the concepts of the designs (mostly web applications) on basis of claims, specified by the students. The exercise here is not to defend the design put to hear the suggestions and comments from the independent experts. The second exercise was to test the design on usability aspects, to see whether the interface is intuitive and complete. Young trainees from Philips were acting as users performing “use scenarios” on a paper interface that was “operated” by one of the students. Both the interaction with the Philips staff as well as the visits and demo’s from the Philips Lab were very well appreciated. Later that week senior staff from Philips were also present by the final “pitching” of the groups for a business panel. The winning project was a design for a “jogether” website where joggers could meet for running together and taking up new challenges.

This summer school was a first pilot towards a regular summer school programme for the upcoming EIT masters. The first day, the students were welcomed by Willem Jonker, the CEO of the EIT ICT Labs, and the last day the students were said goodbye at the KIC co-location (also at the HighTech Campus) where node-director Patrick Strating instructed the students to use the co-location in the coming years as their “homes” and entry points to the KIC network. The whole summer school organized by Krista Lagus and Erik Jansen, and was highly rated by the students.

See more on http://www.cis.hut.fi/wicamp/

ERC grants to emerging research leaders

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:23:00 +0200

Over the coming five years the ERC is supporting early-career researchers in the three major domains of Physical Engineering (where ICT is mainly represented in the 6th panel for Computer Science), Life Sciences and Humanities. These grants will support the creation of excellent new research teams and will strengthen others that have recently been created. - We are pleased and proud to have a number of these promising talents in our organisation, says Willem Jonker, CEO, EIT ICT Labs. To be more precise, for the present round, within panel 6, INRIA will host three new laureates, KTH two laureates and Imperial College, one laureate.

ERC Starting Grant in brief
·         For early-career top researchers of any nationality and age,
with 2-12 years of experience after PhD
·         Funding: up to €2 million per grant for up to five years
·         Calls for proposals: published annually in summer with deadlines in autumn
·         Average age of selected researchers is 37 years, 21 % are women ERC website: http://erc.europa.eu

CEO Willem Jonker visits the DFKI facilities and living labs

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:51:00 +0200

On August 10 CEO Willem Jonker had a full day scheduled with visits and presentations of DFKI's facilities and research areas. He visited the sites in Saarbruecken and Kaiserslautern (Living Lab Smart Factory) as well as the Innovative Retail Laboratory (IRL), embedded in the Offices of the German retailer Globus in St. Wendeln.

Prof.Wolfgang Wahlster hosted the day at DFKI and Christian Müller, the Action Line leader for Intelligent Mobility and Transportation Systems at DFKI, held a special presentation on this thematic area of EIT ICT Labs. There were also several opportunities throughout the day for hands-on experience of the research projects at the labs, as seen in these images from the innovative Retail Lab and the Living Lab Smart Factory.

Klaus Beetz to take office as new Business Director of EIT ICT Labs

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:49:00 +0200

On September 1st, 2011, Klaus Beetz from Siemens will begin his position as the new Business Director of EIT ICT Labs. He will be responsible for coordinating the Business activities and supervising the Business Action Lines of EIT ICT Labs. His primary workplace will be in the Berlin Co-location Centre. Klaus Beetz looks back to more than two decades of industry experience in the IT and software engineering industry, including five years of international secondment to Eastern Europe. Building on his graduation in mathematics, philosophy and computer science, he started his professional career as a software engineer at Nemetschek AG, one of the leading companies for information technology in the AEC sector (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction). At Nemetschek he was member of the board and in charge of the technology centers in Bratislava, Slovakia and Sofia, Bulgaria. He joined Siemens in 2002 and headed the Global Technolgy Field "System Development Technologies" within Siemens Corporate Technology, with subsidiaries in Princeton, USA Bangalore, India, St. Petersburg, Russia, Bejing, China and Munich/Erlangen, Germany. There he is responsible for the worldwide technology transfer from research to business with a focus on innovative engineering technologies for software-intensive systems. Over the years, he gathered extensive intercultural experience in numerous international projects including multi-cultural cooperation, especially on the European level. Among others he was and is member of the board of trustees (BoT) at the European Software Institute (ESI), member of the Steering Group of Information Technology for European Advancement (ITEA) and member of the executive board of DIGITALEUROPE. We are looking forward to welcoming Klaus to EIT ICT Labs.