FH Kufstein Tirol at the Industry 4.0 Summit in Bregenz

Educational institutions and companies met in December of 2018 at Festspielhaus Bregenz in order to network and discuss the topic of Industry 4.0. FH Kufstein Tirol was also there and presented an AR application for production systems as well as automated vehicles, designed and developed by students at the booth of Standortagentur Tirol. Within the context of the courses of the master study program Smart Products & Solutions, the students produced, programmed and tested vehicles for the Mars Rover and Data Explorer Challenge in a competition.

How can digitization be taught?

In his presentation “Smart Digitization – Can digitalization be taught?”, Deputy Head of the Study Program Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Schmiedinger introduced the teaching approaches and concepts of the university in Kufstein. Experience gained from projects for the Mars Rover and Data Explorer Challenge form the core of the teaching approaches. The teachers of the study program aroused enthusiasm among students.

Based on the emotional connection with the vehicles, students learned more or less unconsciously about the technical core skills in the areas of sensor technology, actuator engineering, data transmission, design and programming. Schmiedinger also emphasized that presenters must become coaches in order to accompany students in the problem-solving process. The compilation of interdisciplinary teams is also important for the successful implementation of projects in the area of digitization. According to Schmiedinger, a high degree of diversity in team composition cultivates a fruitful soil for creative solution approaches. Schmiedinger further states that the project Smart Factories – Connected Learning in which the university, in cooperation with the Tirolean Technical Vocational School Kufstein-Rotholz and the companies kufgem and Stihl Tirol, holistically depicted the digitization process provides a good example.

Skill in training of qualified specialists

At the event, FH Kufstein Tirol showed that its comprehensive educational offer optimally fulfills the needs of industry for qualified workers in the area of digitization. Interdisciplinarity in science and research establishes a strong foundation for projects in the area of Industry 4.0. Internal know-how of individual subject areas enables FH Kufstein to actively shape digitization processes in a pioneering manner.