IMI

On Thursday, May 15, KIT Business was a guest at IMI. With exciting presentations and an interesting program, the IMI provided insights into its research work.

Last Saturday, May 17, KIT opened its doors to interested visitors. IMI was there and provided exciting insights into research into machine intelligence and data science in mechanical engineering.

Invited by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), the IMI project team presented the latest status of the EcoVity digital value creation platform at Hannover Messe 2025.

IMI

We are pleased to announce that our research paper “Advancing Sustainable Additive Manufacturing: Analyzing Parameter Influences and Machine Learning Approaches for CO2 Prediction”, authored by Svenja Hauck, Lucas Greif, Nils Benner and Jivka Ovtcharova, has been published in the Journal Sustainability.

IMI

The Institute is delighted to welcome new employees to the team. With their support, we look forward to exciting impulses and joint successes.

New publication in the International Journal of Production Research: The research paper “A human-centric analysis of life cycle assessments: development and validation of a subject-oriented model”, authored by Lucas Greif, Svenja Hauck, Matthes Elstermann and Jivka Ovtcharova has been published!

We are pleased to announce that our research paper “Structured sampling strategies in Bayesian optimization: evaluation in mathematical and real-world scenarios”, authored by Lucas Greif, Niklas Hübschle, Andreas Kimmig, Simon Kreuzwieser, Anatole Martenne and Jivka Ovtcharova, has been published in the Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing.

The research paper “Robuste Bauteilidentifikation mittels digitaler Fingerabdrücke” by Lucas Greif, Jakob Bönsch, Karan Lashkare and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jivka Ovtcharova was published in the renowned Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb (ZWF). The publication deals with innovative methods for the unique identification of components based on digital fingerprints and thus makes an important contribution to quality assurance and traceability in production.

Our research paper “Digital Twins, Extended Reality, and Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing Reconfiguration: A Systematic Literature Review”, authored by Anjela Mayer, Lucas Greif, Tim Markus Häußermann, Simon Otto, Kevin Kastner, Sleiman El Bobbou, Jean-Rémy Chardonnet, Julian Reichwald, Jürgen Fleischer and Jivka Ovtcharova, was published in the journal Sustainability.

IMI is presenting the innovative research project “IntWertL” at the Hannover Messe, which deals with the efficient and sustainable production of lightweight vehicles. From March 31 to April 4, 2025, visitors can experience the first results and the collaborative platform in Hall 8, Stand D26.

IMI

We are happy to share that our research paper, "Exact algorithms for routing electric autonomous mobile robots in intralogistics", authored by Anne Meyer [1], Timo Gschwind [2], Boris Amberg [3], and Dominik Colling [4], has been published in the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR).

© KIT, Amadeus Bramsiepe

As part of a team with researchers from HS Mannheim and Universidad de Burgos, IMI participated in the Early Ride Program of the Innovation Campus Future Mobility (ICM). Through workshops and mentoring from numerous professionals, the three researchers developed business ideas to bring their research results to market.

IMI

The second XIRCON Symposium, held at KIT Karlsruhe, brought together German and French experts to discuss advancements in artificial intelligence, extended reality, and reconfigurable manufacturing systems. The two-day event featured presentations, workshops, and tours, fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas.

Cornelia Schneider-Frank

Taking place in Karlsruhe from October 23rd to 24th, 2024, this event brings together experts and researchers from France and Germany to explore the intersection of Digital Twins (DTs), eXtended Reality (XR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the reconfiguration of manufacturing systems. Register now! We welcome presentations, posters and demos that highlight research findings, case studies, or innovative concepts related to AI, eXtended Reality and Digital Twins for Manufacturing Reconfiguration. As part of the event, we are organizing a tour through the Research Factory, the Center for Art and Media, and a Dinner event.

TU-Dortmund

In October, IMI will begin work in TRR 391 "Spatio-temporal Statistics for the Transition of Energy and Transport". The Transregio was successfully applied for from the German Research Foundation (DFG) under the leadership of TU Dortmund University and Ruhr University Bochum. Anne Meyer and IMI are involved due to their expertise in the field of statistical methods in freight transportation.

Laila Tkotz, KIT

In July, IMI hosted the Interregional XR Days. Around 20 researchers from seven institutions in France, Germany, and Spain participated in the three-day event to exchange insights on their XR research. Alongside IMI, iCube in Strasbourg, FZI PDE, and KVE at HS Mannheim were among the hosts. The event included scientific presentations, live demonstrations, lab visits, and networking sessions.

IMI

In June, the IMI team, together with colleagues from HS Mannheim and Universidad de Burgos, participated in the XRCC (Extended Reality Creator Con) Hackathon in Berlin. This intensive 4-day event brought together designers, developers, and mentors to explore immersive technologies and their applications.

The hackathon provided a fantastic opportunity for valuable experiences, exchange, and collaboration. In the finale, the teams presented their XR applications to a large expert audience.

IMI

The theme of the French-German symposium was ‘eXtended Intelligence for Rapid Cognitive Reconfiguration’, which also reflects the essence of the Innovation Campus Future Mobility project XIRCON.

IMI

The IntWertL research project, funded by the BMWK and the EU, was launched over a year and a half ago with the aim of ‘Faster to customised vehicles’. KIT is participating with its IMI and IIP institutes. Together with 18 other partners from science and industry, they are working on a digital value creation network. Small and medium-sized enterprises are being enabled to bring customised vehicles onto the market in small quantities, more cost-effectively and faster than before. 

Fraunhofer IML – Michael Neuhaus

New propulsion and vehicle concepts in the automotive industry increasingly require automation solutions. However, outdated IT systems, lack of expertise, and unfavorable infrastructures hinder the implementation of such solutions, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To overcome these barriers, researchers from KIT, in collaboration with industry and research partners, are developing a comprehensive toolkit in the joint project FlexTools. This toolkit aims to enable cost-effective adoption of mobile robotics in SMEs in the automotive and supplier industry.

KIT

At the turn of the year, Prof. Jivka Ovtcharova handed over the management of the institute to Prof. Anne Meyer. She has held the Chair of "Data Science in Mechanical Engineering" at IMI since September 2023. Prof. Jivka Ovtcharova, who has now been relieved of her duties as a professor, will take over the project management of the RegioMORE lighthouse project and will continue to support the institute in an advisory capacity with her experience and broad network in research and industry.

Senate of Economy Europe

European Open Innovation Institute (openIEI) was founded during the EUROPATAG event by the Senate of Economy Europe in Berlin, with the goal of establishing an innovation hub to drive sustainable and competitive Europe through European innovation values, led by Professor Jivka Ovtcharova. The openIEI aims to accelerate European innovation cycles and shorten the path "From Vision to Market" by implementing the principles of open innovation.