High customer satisfaction
The managing director of the High Performance Centre, Dr. Konrad Steiner, looked back on two successful years. During this time, more industrial funds were acquired than planned; in addition, the partners were able to acquire several major projects, such as the open digitisation alliance for the Palatinate. The projects with core partners were expanded and many new customers were acquired, in particular up-and-coming companies from the region, but also renowned international companies. »The aim of the second phase is, in particular, to expand the good transfer structure that has emerged in the region, to intensify the exchange with industry, also in the area of further training, and to strengthen the supra-regional visibility of the Kaiserslautern location«, said Konrad Steiner.
Bridge builder and cooperation engine
Prof. Dr. Arnd Poetzsch-Heffter, Vice President for Research and Technology at the TU Kaiserslautern (TUK), referred in particular to the integration power of the performance centre: »The High Performance Centre is a bridge builder and cooperation engine for central digitisation topics. It combines basic research and application-oriented research as well as innovations in industry and brings together researchers from different disciplines. In addition, it strengthens the cooperation between universities and research institutions in Kaiserslautern.«
The High Performance Centre from the industry's point of view
One of the industrial partners is the John Deere European Technology Innovation Center in Kaiserslautern. Its director August Altherr emphasized the importance of automation in agriculture. »In the future, we will increasingly transfer agricultural processes - such as the growth of a plant - into algorithms and simulations. We are developing the corresponding technologies in close cooperation with the local researchers.«
Andreas Wiegmann, Managing Director of Math2Market GmbH, spoke about future possibilities of innovation in material development through simulation. »Battery electrodes, filter media, fiber composite materials and many other materials can already be designed in the computer today«, says Wiegmann. »Kaiserslautern is home to all the skills required in our environment, from mathematics and computer science to 3D imaging processes, test facilities and 3D printing on the nanoscale, in order to further develop and commercialise our technologies.«
Well positioned until 2020 - and beyond
The financing of the High Performance Centre continues to lie on several shoulders. For example, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the industrial partners have committed themselves to raising a total of ten million euros by 2020 - this amount has already been secured! »In addition, we are striving to make the performance center more sustainable, because the challenges of the future demand solutions that can only be achieved through the targeted combination of expertise from different disciplines. This is exactly what the performance center makes possible in the best possible way« says Prof. Dr. Peter Liggesmeyer, head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering.
Following the opening ceremony, the numerous guests were able to convince themselves of the efficiency of the performance center in a small exhibition. In addition to posters on various projects, concrete applications could also be seen, for example the newly developed tools for filter and battery simulation for the digital materials laboratory GeoDict. The energy hub Amperix, with which the integration of renewable energies through the sector coupling of electricity, e-heat and e-mobility succeeds, also received a lot of attention. Visitors were able to see for themselves on site, as the researchers had set up and coupled a charging station for electric vehicles, an electric car and a heat pump in the atrium of the institute.