On February 27, 2026, the Professorship for Information Management hosted its 5th Industrial IoT Innovation Brunch at HTW Dresden.

The event, funded as part of the Saxony⁵ consortium project, brought together more than 60 partners from academia, industry, and politics. Together, we discussed current developments in industrial data ecosystems, data rooms, and artificial intelligence.

A particular highlight was the announcement of a new IDTA AAS Research Hub by Professors Dirk Reichelt, Leon Urbas, and Matthias Bölke. This initiative will further strengthen research on the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) at our university and foster international collaboration. This technology is considered a key component for the digital networking of machines and systems in Industry 4.0.

Perspectives from Politics and Research

In his presentation, Peter Ittenbach from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy provided fascinating insights into future funding initiatives in the field of industrial data ecosystems and their significance for industrial applications of artificial intelligence. Particular emphasis was placed on data rooms and their role in ensuring a secure and interoperable industrial data economy.

Practical Insights from Industry

In addition to strategic perspectives, the focus was on practical insights from industry.

Haris Avgoustinos of EXPO21XX GmbH presented how the Manufacturing-X initiative is driving digitalization across various manufacturing industries. Key topics include data spaces, data and process interoperability, cybersecurity, compliance, and new data-driven business models.

Stefanie Hammer of algorismic GmbH used examples from the semiconductor industry to demonstrate how the supply infrastructure of semiconductor fabs can become a key driver of efficiency for sustainable production through interoperable interfaces, end-to-end data integration, and open data spaces.

Marian Klee from Brighter AI provided another practical insight. He presented modern approaches to data-protection-compliant image and video anonymization, which open up new possibilities for data-driven analysis and AI applications.

Discussions and demonstrations from research projects

In addition to the presentations, the brunch offered numerous opportunities for personal interaction. In particular, the demonstration of various prototypes from current research projects, including OSHOP and SEMICONDUCTOR-X, generated significant interest and led to in-depth discussions about specific use cases and future collaborations.

For us at the Professorship for Information Management, the IIoT Innovation Brunch is an important platform for actively fostering the exchange between research and industrial practice. We are delighted by the participants’ keen interest and the lively discussions, and we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all the speakers, our industry partners, and everyone who supported the event and helped make it a success.