Salzburg ready for Industry 4.0
Employees of eleven technology companies in Salzburg are getting fit for Industry 4.0 with the latest scientific findings in geoinformatics. The cooperation between science and industry is to lead to a qualification network and contribute to the creation of regionally closed value-added chains. The research results of the Department of Geoinformatics at the University of Salzburg – Z_GIS and the Research Studio iSPACE, which are conveyed in the seminars, are also intended to provide impetus for innovations. Through the initiative Geo-enabled smart processes and services – GeoSPS, which is supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), research and business should network more closely and benefit from each other, especially in future-relevant fields of technology.
“We want to establish a qualification network that keeps companies up to date with the latest research and provides science with feedback from industry,” says Prof. Dr. Thomas Blaschke, Deputy Head of Z_GIS and Head of Research Studio iSPACE, “with the aim of creating regionally closed value chains in these fields of technology and application.
Research results flow into company and production processes
The participants, who have been trained at a high technical level, are already confronted with tasks in their companies today, in which spatio-temporal concepts from geoinformatics are in demand. Depending on the job profile and requirements, the more than 100 participants learn in a total of 60 seminars how to incorporate this information into their work.
Methods for practice: Spatio-temporal sensor measurements for the use of drones
The basis for a possible use in practice can be sensor measurements that include space and time – for example measurements on mobile objects such as in traffic management. The commercial use of drones will further increase the importance of these sensors. Even smart cities can only function with the help of spatio-temporal sensors.
New possibilities through image analysis and object positioning in buildings
Object positioning or image analysis are another basis for products and services. While GPS-based object positioning has long since become established outside buildings, it is now also being used more frequently inside buildings – for example in quality assurance, process control or security management. Innovative methods of image analysis such as object-based image analysis (OBIA) can process three-dimensional data from laser-based measuring techniques almost in real time, making it possible to detect even short-term changes.
Data Science: Potential for industry-specific applications
Six months after the start of the project, the potential for companies becomes apparent. It helps them to create industry-specific applications based on open standards or to incorporate information from data containers into their production processes or services. The legal and political framework resulting from “open standards” is given just as much space in the seminars.
Basic idea for new patent created
The participating companies are mainly active in the Salzburg and Upper Austria region. The employees are seconded by small and medium-sized companies as well as by a market leader.
“As an innovative company, SKIDATA is very interested in incentives for new ideas,” says Gabi Bickel, Human Resources at SKIDATA. “Due to the heterogeneous field of participants and the high standard of the speakers, successful rounds of talks and a good exchange of ideas are the result. This is useful for all participants. In the course of a discussion, a basic idea for a new SKIDATA patent has already been created.