Forskningsbesök till TH‑OWL, ledande inom industriell IoT

In July 2023, Prof. Mikael Gidlund visited our guest professor Juergen Jasperneite and the jointly supervised Ph.D. student Maxim Friesen at Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen Lippe (TH-OWL) in the beautiful city of Lemgo, Germany. TH-OWL is a strong research university for applied sciences, which offers around 60 bachelor's and master's degree programs as well as doctoral programs at three locations. It is firmly anchored in Ostwestfalen-Lippe, a lively and economically strong region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia.

- TH-OWL is a very important collaboration partner for the STC research center since we are experiencing the same regional challenges in terms of attracting skilled workforce, establishment of new companies, collaboration between regional companies and academia. Moreover, both TH-OWL and STC are leading research centers within Industrial IoT – so we can learn a lot from each other and I would say that TH-OWL is a head of MIUN when it comes to regional collaboration between university, research institutes and companies of all sizes, say Prof. Mikael Gidlund at Mid Sweden University.

During the visit, Professor Gidlund had the opportunity to visit the SmartFactoryOWL lab, which is a joint venture between Fraunhofer IOSB-INA and TH-OWL in Lemgo and stands on three pillars: research, qualification, and technology transfer in the digital industry domain. The unique Industry 4.0 infrastructure showcased at the SmartFactoryOWL lab exemplifies the convergence of these pillars.

Spanning 2000 sqm, SmartFactoryOWL boasts compelling research production, and seminar spaces. The facility disseminates insights into digital industry transformation, future work dynamics, and process optimization. SmartFactoryOWL bridges academia and industry, assisting companies in knowledge and technology transfer.

- I am super Impressed by the SmartFactoryOWL lab, and it is a world leading research environment for pushing the boundaries of Industrial IoT. The infrastructure is superb and there are showcases for industrial 5G, cyber-security, robotics, process optimization, etc, concludes Prof. Gidlund.