How industry and universities learn from each other
Community |
Prof. Krubasik, you have been contributing your many years of experience in business to the robotics and AI institute MIRMI for several years. How did it come about?
The further development of the automation businesses was one of my tasks in the Siemens Managing Board. For this purpose, the exchange of companies and universities is quite important. When the Technical University of Munich (TUM) was looking for a way of even closer cooperation between researchers in the field of robotics and machine intelligence, the president at that time (and intellectual father of MIRMI) Wolfgang A. Hermann also asked for advice from industry. The university council, the then Infineon CEO Reinhard Ploss, Prof. Gerhard Hirzinger, the former head of the Institute for Robotics and Mechatronics at DLR, and I saw the MIRMI idea as a valuable initiative not only for university research but also for industry. In discussions with the Presidential Board and colleagues from the faculties, it quickly became clear that TUM wanted to focus on a synergetic unit of basic research, innovation translation and industry cooperation within the university and not establish a purely application-oriented GmbH, such as the German Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). First advantage: In addition to mechanical engineering, computer science, robotics and artificial intelligence, many different disciplines such as medicine, agrotechnology, sports science or ethics could be considered in an integrated approach. Second advantage: The new School structure at TUM is easier to combine as a matrix with an internal IRI, as it allows the respective PIs a double affiliation in School and MIRMI. If there is interest, it will also be quite easy to include new PIs in MIRMI. In terms of content, the focus should not be solely on artificial intelligence, but also intelligent and networked machines (cyber-physical systems) are always at the centre of research. For the leadership of the new IRI, the Executive Board, with strong input from the current President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann, was able to convince an excellent researcher to turn down calls to Stanford and MIT and establish this integrated research institute at TUM, Prof. Sami Haddadin, an alumnus of TUM, himself a successful founder who also conducted research at DLR and later in Hannover.
It is a challenge to bring diverse disciplines under one roof. How did that work out in the end?
MIRMI is divided into seven sectors. This includes the three basic disciplines of perception, artificial intelligence and robotics, ultimately the skills required of intelligent machines – „Sense, Plan and Act“. In addition, there are four innovation sectors in which important developments can be expected in the future – The future of work, health, mobility and the environment. These structures were created under the leadership of the Board of Directors of Prof. Sami Haddadin together with Prof. Eckehard Steinbach and Prof. Daniel J. Rixen in close coordination with the Science Board, i.e. the responsible professors in MIRMI. The advice from industry was also useful and strategic here. Thus, the industrial partners played a major role in ultimately forming the seven sectors in MIRMI. Close networking with industry also plays an important role in the large-scale MIRMI projects. Various industrial partners such as BMW, Linde or Reactive Robotics are active in these so-called lighthouse projects "AI.Fabrik", "Geriatronics" and most recently "Mobility".
You head the Industry Advisory Board of MIRMI. How does this board affect the work at MIRMI?
C-level managers from companies such as Airbus, BMW, Continental, DLR, Siemens Healthineers, IBM, Infineon, Microsoft, SAP, Siemens AG and the academy of technical sciences acatech support MIRMI in strategy discussions. We have taken care to avoid direct competition on the board so that everyone can speak freely. We act as a kind of "sounding board" for the strategy discussion of the seven sectors. PIs learn how far industry is and where research breakthroughs are being sought. Each individual sector developed its strategy in a series of workshops. The major challenges of the future were identified and necessary focus groups and lighthouse projects were considered, many of which are already underway today.
To what extent does the location play an important role for the MIRMI?
The region around Munich and further afield in Bavaria has a special DNA. On the one hand, this concerns the research landscape from industry and universities, as well as the Bavarian state government's promotion of research and transfer of results into application. With MIRMI, one of the largest robotics and AI institutes in the world is located on site. With the LMU as another university of excellence, with the DLR as an excellent institute for robotics and mechatronics, and with companies such as Airbus, BMW and Siemens within easy reach, a unique dynamic is quickly emerging. And let's not forget the start-up centre UnternehmerTUM, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary, launching around 50 scalable tech start-ups year after year and has now supported a total of around 1,000 start-ups. This ecosystem is unique and does not need to hide internationally. A few months ago, UnternehmerTUM, together with TUM, launched additional funding opportunities in "11 deep tech domains" with the TUM Venture Labs programme, including "Robotics/AI". If a Cluster of Excellence is now also successful in Munich, that would be the next milestone in this initiative. I don't know of any robotics and machine learning ecosystem in Europe that is as broadly based.