“As the biggest institute of the OWL University we are not just a research institution, we also want to make a contribution to society”, explains Institute Director Professor Jürgen Jasperneite. Research is carried out at inIT and the academic generation of tomorrow is trained. More than 60 employees from different competence areas of Industrial Information Technology are real specialists in their discipline. Also their international visibility is increased continually. There are many national and international research projects and publications, the inIT regularly organizes expert conferences like e.g. “Communication in Automation – KommA”, “Image Proessing in Automation – BVAu” or the international IEEE-conference “ETFA”. Several times researchers from inIT were internationally awarded for their scientific research contributions. “Now, 10 years later, we can see that the merging of interdisciplinary fields of work with a lot of commitment was very successful”, so Jasperneite. The inIT contributed significantly to the introduction of information technologies in industry, with e.g. the development of the Tiger Chip for Real Time Ethernet, Trusted Wireless, Automation Cloud, banknote security or the world’s smallest OPC-UA-Server. Also the institute was a nucleus for many milestones at Campus Lemgo: The founding of Germany’s first Fraunhofer Application Center or the founding of the research and development center CENTRUM INDUSTRIAL IT (CIIT) and the establishment of companies directly at the Campus, not to forget the establishment of the research and demonstration factory SmartFactoryOWL of the Fraunhofer Society and OWL University. Professor Uwe Meier, Dean of the Department Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at OWL University, sums up: “The founding of the inIT was the most important milestone in the 50-year history of our department. And also groundbreaking for the OWL University.”
Jasperneite emphasizes that application oriented fundamental research is not a one-way street: Research Institutes and companies benefit from each other. “We are located in the middle of Ostwestfalen-Lippe, one of the most important clusters of mechanical engineering and industrial electronics in Germany. This environment sustainably influences our research work at inIT, also do benefit domiciled companies.” Future plans are about settling further interesting companies and research institutions in Lemgo - the whole spot shall be extended to “Innovation Campus Lemgo” within the next 10 years. The region shall maintain its status as a leading one in this competence area, adds Prof. Meier. The inIT is one of the leading institutes in the BMBF-cluster “Intelligent Technical Systems OstwestfalenLippe – it’s OWL”.
The Ministry of Science NRW just confirmed in summer 2016 that Electrical Engineering in Lemgo is No. 1 of all NRW-Universities regarding its research activities. Dean Meier is proud of inIT’s performance: “Excellent teaching conditions, a practical orientation and first-class studying and working conditions characterize the institute. This is also regularly confirmed by CHE-ranking. The degrees at our department stand for maximum quality. Out graduates are highly demanded in the market.” Students to have the opportunity at inIT to participate in research and industry projects, like e.g. at SmartFactoryOWL, at Fraunhofer or CIIT. They also can write their theses in an innovative research and industry environment at Campus Lemgo.
Also Dr. Oliver Herrmann, outgoing President of OWL University, was delighted about the anniversary and emphasized the success of inIT in his welcome speech: “The inIT has as the first In-Institute of OWL University an eventful history. Therefore, I am more than pleased about its successful work that is a crucial driver for innovations.”
Accompanied by two scientific conferences, KommA and BVAu, the solemn event with more than 170 guests took place at 30. November 2016 at CIIT. One of the highlights was the gig of cabaret artist Vince Ebert.