Wolfgang Wahlster has pioneered entirely new fields at the cross-section of Computer Science, Manufacturing Science and the Internet of Things like semantic object memories - digital product twins, the cyber-physical production architecture and hybrid teams of robots and workers for the industry of the future. He called this revolutionary vision Industry 4.0. Prof. Wahlster’s research results in Industry 4.0 do represent a breakthrough in the concepts of industry of the future. His pioneering use of AI-based manufacturing in Industry 4.0 paved the way to the synergistic collaboration between humans and robots in smart factories for mass customization. These visions are helping to change the way of thinking in industry, transportation, smart cities, energy distribution etc. and can be considered an important step towards the change of thinking needed for the Society of the future.
“Wolfgang Wahlster is a unique scientific personality. He has worked with Czech scientists since the 1990s and it has always been an equal cooperation, providing researchers the confidence they needed to compete in the international environment. He has created a number of professional attachments in the Czech Republic, contributed to the integration of the Czech AI community into European research by supporting it in the European Coordination Committee and helping Czech researchers around the world,” explains CTU Rector doc. Vojtěch Petráček.
“Wolfgang Wahlster is not only a world-renowned person, but also a great personality and a true collaborator whom I have known for over 30 years,” explains Professor Vladimír Mařík, Scientific Director of CIIRC CTU, the nature of cooperation with prof. Wahlster. “In the past decade, his research in AI has shifted from computational linguistics and spoken dialog systems to industrial applications, the Industry 4.0 concept. From his previous cooperation he recognised the potential of the Czech environment and evaluated it as optimal: well-prepared and with a high-quality scientific background. This is one of the reasons why this concept was quickly adopted to the Czech environment,” adds Professor Mařík.
“I feel deeply honoured by the decision of the Scientific Council of CTU in Prague as one of the oldest and best technical universities of Europe to award me the prestigious honorary title Doctor honoris causa. It gives me great joy and satisfaction that this award underlines the impact of Artificial Intelligence and INDUSTRIE 4.0 on the Czech and German research on advanced manufacturing as well as on the economy of both countries. The digitalization of industrial production, products, and services plays a critical role for the future of both countries. The intensive collaboration of the two leading institutes in industrial AI, CIIRC and DFKI, ensures that both countries remain the globally leading suppliers for the next generation of smart factories. My cooperation with CTU was always based on my deep respect for the scientific excellence at CIIRC, the reliability of all Czech project partners and their very hard-working staff, as well as the shared socio-economic values and principles,” professor Wahlster commented.
In his various top advisory roles to the German government for Chancellors Dr. Schröder and Dr. Merkel, Prof. Wahlster has defined and shaped many large-scale and long-term national research programs between academia and industry.
In 2006, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, first Class, of the Federal Republic of Germany for his outstanding contributions to human-technology interaction. In 2019, the President of Germany awarded him the Great Cross of Merit. Also, he was named one of the 10 most influential figures in history of AI in Germany by the German Informatics Society.
Besides the honorary degree for prof. Wolfgang Wahlster, the following workers were awarded:
Felber's Gold Medal of First Grade was awarded to Ing. John Eisler, AIA, Faculty of Architecture CTU, Felber Silver Medal of Second Grade was awarded to prof. Ing. Jiří Bašta, Ph.D., Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, CTU, prof. Ing. Jaroslav Fořt, CSc., From the Institute of Technical Mathematics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, CTU, prof. Ing. Jaromír Houš, DrSc., Institute of Production Machines and Equipment, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, CTU, prof. Ing. František Riegr, DrSc., From the Institute of Process Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, CTU, prof. Ing. Milan Růžička, CSc., From the Institute of Mechanics, Biomechanics and Mechatronics of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering CTU and prof. Ing. Jan Suchánek, CSc., From the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, CTU.
Based on the proposals of the faculties, the Rector of CTU doc. Vojtěch Petráček has awarded Rector's Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Ing. Jaroslava Hrtánková, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering for the “Study of Antihadron Interactions with Nuclear Medium”, the Rector's Award for Outstanding Scientific Outcome doc. Ing. Libor Šnobl, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Nuclear and Physical Engineering and Antonelle Marchesiello, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Information Technology for “Superintegrable Systems in Magnetic Fields in Three Spatial Dimensions”, Rector's Prize for the application of research results . Ing. Daniel Sýkora, Ph.D., and Ing. Ondřej Jamrišek from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering for “Sale of GridCut Patent Licenses”, Rector's Prize for the prestigious publication of prof. akad. Mikuláš Hulc and a team from the Faculty of Civil Engineering for the “Churches of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church - Architectural Heritage of Our Regions” and the Rector's Prize for prestigious publication for the year 2018 - prof. Ing. Jan Sýkora, CSc., From the Faculty of Electrical Engineering for “Wireless Physical Layer Network Coding”.
Photo: CIIRC ČVUT
