IMS Joins Trans-Atlantic Cluster Initiative Industry Tour, 14-18 May, 2018

IMS was invited as a guest to tour German manufacturing companies and meet with industry, local economic development agencies and research institutions by the Trans-Atlantic Cluster Initiative. The tour was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy to promote dialogue and understanding of how industry 4.0 technologies are being integrated into small to large companies, and to expand their network through face-to-face meetings. The tour group included experts from industry and industry-related institutions who exchanged best practices, shared common challenges. The week-long tour visited companies in Hessen (Darmstadt), Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart), and Niedersachsen (Hannover). Dan Nagy noted that personal highlights of the tour included state-of-the-art manufacturers (Festo, Zeiss), SME’s in the process of integrating new technologies (Nass Magnet), augmented reality labs and holodeck (Fraunhofer, Daimler), a super-computing facility (HLRS), and state-of-the art training labs (Technische Universität Darmstadt, Arena2036, Deutsche Messe). Outcomes from the meeting included expansion if the IMS network and possible support for future collaboration.