Softwarepark Hagenberg team of experts
The Softwarepark Hagenberg event series - by experts for experts
In 2016, a group of experts formed from representatives of the companies, research institutes and educational institutions of Softwarepark Hagenberg to realize the idea of a new Hagenberg event series as a common forum for inspiration, presentation, cooperation and communication internally and externally.
The team of five, consisting of DI Thomas Führer, MSc (STIWA Group), DI (FH) Thomas Kern (FH OÖ Campus Hagenberg), DI Theodorich Kopetzky (Software Competence Center Hagenberg - SCCH), a.Univ.-Prof. Dipl-Ing. Dr. Josef Küng (Institute for Application-Oriented Knowledge Processing (FAW) at Johannes Kepler University) and Dr. Sonja Mündl (Softwarepark Hagenberg Management), fleshed out this idea and implemented it in 2017 in the course of several successive open events. In the course of lectures by invited renowned experts from business and science, the participants should learn more about current trends and the resulting IT requirements, in order to deepen selected topics in subsequent discussions and to discuss possible solutions together.
A highly relevant theme every year
The consensus to define an overarching guiding theme, which is highly relevant for everyone involved, was quickly found. The first cycle in 2017 was devoted to the topic of "Automotive Computing". In three pleasantly well-attended events, international experts discussed which new challenges future mobility will pose for information technology, which increasingly important role data analysis will play in the automotive sector, and how the increasing safety and security requirements for autonomous driving can be met.
In the past, information security in particular was mostly neglected. However, with the massively growing amount of information processing and increasingly networked systems in increasingly complex application areas, the resulting threat potential also increases. Last but not least, the European General Data Protection Regulation, which entered into force on May 25 in 2018, hovers like a sword of Damocles over the heads of companies. A comprehensive consideration of security measures in terms of technology, architecture and management is therefore essential. This is why the events in 2018 had the main theme "Information Security". Once again, the subject was examined from different perspectives together with well-known experts.
In 2019, Softwarepark Hagenberg is committed to the topic of "Digital Health". Digital healthcare technologies are used for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and administration in healthcare. Accordingly, the networking between hospitals, operating systems and pharmacies is increasing. The compatibility of IT systems is therefore essential. Different systems should work together as seamlessly as possible and thus pave the way for topics such as e-health, telemedicine or active assisted living. Due to the high topicality, "Digital Health" was the focus of the event series at Softwarepark Hagenberg in 2019.
Data is the enabling raw material for many megatrends in the field of modern computer science and information technology. Prominent examples in recent years are big data, the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, information security and digitalization in general.
The area of analytics represents a cross-sectional area, whose method pool benefits from the developments in the trends mentioned above. Analytics goes from the descriptive to the diagnostic to the predictive phase. The prescriptive phase builds on these stages by making the knowledge gained in diagnostics and prediction, among other things, usable for the real world with modern techniques of artificial intelligence: By combining data analysis and machine learning with modelling and optimization, scenarios can be compared with each other under different aspects of optimization and it can be deduced how the future can best be designed.
Together with FH-Prof. Priv.-Doz. DI Dr. Michael Affenzeller, scientific head of the Softwarepark Hagenberg and an absolute luminary in the field of prescriptive analytics, the team of experts has dedicated to this highly interesting topic in 2020.
Softwarepark Hagenberg expert team
As manager of the Softwarepark Hagenberg, DR. SONJA MÜNDL is involved daily in the strategic and economic development of Softwarepark Hagenberg. Her tasks include the initiation of projects as well as the settlement and support of companies, research institutes and educational programmes on site. With the Softwarepark Hagenberg series of IT experts, it is possible to unite the synergies of research, education and business of the Softwarepark Hagenberg. In addition, the comprehensive expertise in various IT topic areas is presented and, last but not least, expanded with each event.
A. UNIV. PROF. DI DR. JOSEF KÜNG is Associate Professor for Applied Computer Science at the Johannes Kepler University Linz and Deputy Head of the Institute for Application-Oriented Knowledge Processing (FAW). Since the foundation of Softwarepark Hagenberg, he has been active in various functions, both in the scientific field and in technology transfer and cooperation with the economy. His research, teaching and cooperation topics are information systems and knowledge-based systems, including security aspects in such systems.
DI (FH) THOMAS KERN has been active in research, development and teaching at the FH Upper Austria Campus Hagenberg since 2000. Initially, he was responsible for the establishment and expansion of the Research Center Hagenberg and subsequently developed the concept for the TIMed CENTER, which he has managed since its foundation in 2016. In this cross-faculty centre for technical innovation in medicine, research groups from the four Upper Austrian Universities of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, Linz, Wels and Steyr, together with partners from science and industry, are developing new technologies to solve medical problems in numerous interdisciplinary projects. It is of particular importance to him to make the strengths of the region and its institutions as technology and research partners widely visible and to develop them further together. This is one of the reasons why he is very happy to be part of the team of experts at Softwarepark Hagenberg.
The computer scientist and energy management expert DI THOMAS FÜHRER has been working for the internationally active automation specialist STIWA Group since 1988. Today he is responsible for the management of the STIWA location in Hagenberg im Mühlkreis, which he significantly built up in 1992. Here the company develops intelligent software solutions and services in the areas of production automation, laboratory and building automation and employs more than 100 people. Thomas Führer combines his many years of experience and know-how in the fields of energy-efficient building and industrial automation, energy management, product and software development and building automation. In addition, he is employed as a lecturer at the FH Wels for the courses of study in green energy technology, civil engineering and building construction.
DI THEODORICH KOPETZKY has been area manager for Services and Solutions at the Software Competence Center Hagenberg (SCCH) since the beginning of 2020. From 2014 to 2019 he was executive head of the „Knowledge-based Vision Systems“ research focus. He studied computer science at the Johannes Kepler University Linz with focus on software engineering and compiler design. He joined the Database Technology group of the SCCH in the year 2004 as project manager for a multi person-year project in the area of SOA based enterprise application platform systems.
