About us

Members of the Fraunhofer Austria Advisory Board

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Prof. e. h. Wilhelm Bauer, geschäftsführender Institutsleiter Fraunhofer IAO
• KR Ing. Johann Bock, Geschäftsführer BECOM Electronics GmbH
• Mag. Florian Frauscher, MLS, Sektionschef, Sektion IV - Wirtschaftsstandort, Innovation und Internationalisierung, BMAW
• Ing. Karl Christian Handl, MBA, Geschäftsführer HANDL TYROL GmbH
• Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Sabine Herlitschka, MBA, Vorstandsvorsitzende der Infineon Technologies Austria AG
• DI Dr. Kurt Hofstädter, Siemens AG Österreich (Beiratsvorsitzender)
• Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Dr.h.c. Harald Kainz, TU Graz
• DI Hans Kostwein, Geschäftsführer Kostwein Maschinenbau GmbH
• Markus Langes-Swarovski, Präsident des Verwaltungsrates Swarovski
• Jürgen Mandl, MBA, Präsident der Wirtschaftskammer Kärnten
• Dipl.-Ing. Jens Poggenburg, Executive Vice President Software Products, Emission and Services von AVL List GmbH
• Dr. Stefan Riegler, Leiter der Gruppe IV/A - Forschung und Innovation, BMAW
• KR Veit Schmid-Schmidsfelden, Geschäftsführer Rupert Fertinger GmbH
• DI Helmut Schwarzl, Geschäftsleitung Produktion Geberit
• Dipl.-Ing. Gerhard Stangl, COO der Engel Austria GmbH
• O. Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Sabine Seidler, TU Wien

Members of the KI4LIFE Steeringboard

• Dr. Sabine Herlitschka, Vorstandsvorsitzende Infineon Technologies Austria AG 
• Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Clemens Heuberger, Dekan Fakultät für Technische Wissenschaften an der Alpen Adria Universität 
• MMag. Dr. Meinrad Höfferer, Direktor Wirtschaftskammer Kärnten
• Mag. Robert Jeller, Referent Wirtschaftskammer Österreich 
• Dr. Gaby Schaunig, Landeshauptmann-Stellvertreterin Land Kärnten 
• Christian Scheider, Bürgermeister Stadt Klagenfurt
• Dr. Helmut Schmidt, Berater Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft 
• Ing. Alfred Schuh, Geschäftsführer GPS Kärnten 
• Mag. Dr. Christian Schwarz, Prokurist Kelag 
• Mag. Timo Springer, Präsident Industriellenvereinigung Kärnten 
• Mag. Peter Wedenig, Landesgeschäftsführer AMS Kärnten 

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, based in Germany is the world’s leading applied research organization. Prioritizing key future-relevant technologies and commercializing its findings in business and industry, it plays a major role in the innovation process. A trailblazer and trendsetter in innovative developments and research excellence, it is helping shape our society and our future. Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft currently operates 76 institutes and research units throughout Germany. Over 30,000 employees, predominantly scientists and engineers, work with an annual research budget of €2.9 billion. Fraunhofer generates €2.5 billion of this from contract research.

The Vienna University of Technology is a cooperation partner of Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH in Vienna. With more than 29,000 students, it is Austria's largest research and educational institution in the natural and engineering sciences.

The managing director of Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH Prof. Dr. Wilfried Sihn is also a professor at the Institute for Management Sciences and head of the field of industrial engineering and system planning.

In addition to close spatial collaboration, the cooperation includes joint research and use of the infrastructure, project management and the practical addition to teaching.

The Graz University of Technology is a cooperation partner of Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH in Graz. Founded in 1811, Graz University of Technology is today an important university in the international technical and scientific research and education network.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. techn. Dieter W. Fellner is - in addition to his work as managing director of Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH - director of the Institute for Computer Graphics and Knowledge Visualization at Graz University of Technology.

In addition to close spatial collaboration, the cooperation includes joint research and use of the infrastructure, project management and the practical addition to teaching.

The University of Klagenfurt is a cooperation partner of the Fraunhofer Innovation Center "Digitization and Artificial Intelligence - KI4LIFE". The computer science department, founded in 1985, is particularly active in the field of artificial intelligence.

The Faculty of Technical Sciences comprises the departments of computer science, information technology, mathematics and statistics. Together with the inter-faculty Digital Age Research Center (D! ARC) and the Lakeside Labs, more than 12 research groups are active in the field of autonomous and networked systems, artificial intelligence and robotics. The high quality of the scientific work by international comparison is documented by very good ranking results.

Fraunhofer IPA – one of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s largest institutes – was founded in 1959 and employs nearly 1000 workers. The focus of our research and development work is on organizational and technological issues related to the manufacturing industry. We develop, test and implement methods, components and devices right up to entire machines and production lines. Fraunhofer IPA’s 15 specialist departments cover the entire field of manufacturing engineering. They are coordinated by six business units and work on an interdisciplinary basis with industrial enterprises from the following sectors: automotive, machinery & equipment, electronics & microsystems, energy, medical engineering & biotechnology, and the process industry.

Animation and visualization, e-learning and digital security technologies, virtual and augmented reality are among the areas that the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD has been working successfully for 30 years. The institute's focus is on the human potential to quickly grasp complex issues visually. With its numerous innovations, Fraunhofer IGD raises the interaction between humans and machines to a new level, with humans being the focus and should be supported and accompanied by the machine. Being able to use new technologies easily and intuitively is one of the core tasks that the individual departments carry out in their research and development projects. Fraunhofer IGD is a direct sister of the Visual Computing division. The institute currently employs 240 people at its four locations in Darmstadt, Rostock, Graz and Singapore. The 13 specialist departments deal with the research areas of computer graphics, computer vision, human-machine interaction, (interactive) simulation and modeling.

Professor Dr. techn. Dieter W. Fellner, who also holds the chair for Interactive Graphics Systems at the TU Darmstadt, has headed Fraunhofer IGD since 2006.

The SZTAKI is a research institute, governed by the Eötvös Loránd Research Network. SZTAKI is the acronym of the Hungarian name of the institute, while its full English name is "Institute for Computer Science and Control".

Fraunhofer Austria Research GmbH and MTA Sztaki have been working together for many years, particularly in the field of "Information systems in production". Together we run the Virtual Institute for Production and Business Management to bundle research and consulting activities.

The Austrian Scientific Society for Production Technology, or ÖWGP for short, sees itself as an association of professors from Austrian universities with the aim of promoting science and research-based teaching in the field of production technology.