Ü:MO 2025

Abstract follows.

After completing his studies and doctorate in aerospace engineering at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich, Prof. Peter Middendorf held various positions at EADS and Eurocopter Germany before moving to the University of Stuttgart in 2012 as Managing Director of the Institute of Aircraft Design. He was Vice Rector for Knowledge and Technology Transfer there from 2018 to 2024. He has been Rector of the University of Stuttgart since October 2024. He is also Chairman of the Board of the ARENA2036 research campus and was active as coordinator for Baden-Württemberg's aerospace strategy from 2023-2024.

The European Union is facing major challenges in digital policy. Can Europe master the balancing act between new geopolitical constellations, global competitiveness, the search for new innovative strength and technological sovereignty? How can we use our strengths in digital competition and remove obstacles? And what does this mean in concrete terms for the future-proof design of regulation, investment programs and international partnerships?

Renate Nikolay is Deputy Director-General at the European Commission, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technologies (DG CONNECT). Among other things, she coordinates telecommunications policy, data and media policy and the regulation of digital platforms.

She was head of Vĕra Jourová's cabinet and deals with topics such as digital markets, the rule of law and disinformation. Studied law in Berlin, Washington and Grenoble.

Innovations are indispensable for securing competitiveness and sustainable growth, but must now also make their contribution to sovereignty in important technologies of tomorrow and beyond. Better networking capabilities, bundling forces through cooperative innovation processes and working in heterogeneous ecosystems are success factors, digitalization is the innovation driver and end-to-end data ecosystems are the first results. Structural innovations such as the research campus are available for this purpose.

Short biography follows.

Bell Labs, the research arm of Nokia, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. 100 years in which world-changing innovations such as the transistor, information theory and the C and C++ programming languages were created. ARENA2036 has now been part of this history for 7 years. The active ecosystem and the location in the heart of German industry make ARENA2036 a cooperative real laboratory for industrial communication technologies for Nokia and Bell Labs, in which the complete research and development cycle is covered, from basic research to prototypes and blueprints to real industrial projects. The partners from industry bring concrete application scenarios and problems. In addition to its technological expertise, Nokia provides state-of-the-art network technology as a platform for the partners' innovation projects. The results speak for themselves. ARENA2036 is one of the first locations in the world to conduct research into 6G in an industrial context. Together with the partner ecosystem, new technologies such as 5G Precise Localization have been developed and industrial applications such as the control of Automated Mobile Robots have been tested. However, the industry and its innovation topics are constantly evolving. And so Nokia and ARENA2036 are also currently building a new network infrastructure to position themselves even better for future partner projects in the context of AI, cloud and the industrial metaverse.

Severine is Vice President and Head of Operations at Nokia Strategy & Technology. In this role, she reports directly to the Chief Strategy and Technology Officer. Strategy & Technology plays a central role in shaping Nokia's technological future. It develops business and technology strategies for the entire Group, creates a sound research base for the development of innovative products and solutions and provides the necessary infrastructure to enable all Nokia business units to implement these strategies efficiently and securely. With her team, Severine is instrumental in achieving the strategic, financial and operational goals of the division. She promotes operational excellence through effective leadership and the implementation of governance structures, processes and strategic initiatives. She is also responsible for the public funding portfolio and coordinates partnerships with universities in the Strategy & Technology area. At the same time, she ensures the business continuity and research infrastructure of Nokia Bell Labs. Severine joined Nokia in 2015, initially as Head of Commercial Management Operations & Transformation. In 2021, she introduced an updated Nokia Business System and established a new performance management. Prior to joining Nokia, Severine worked in the aviation industry for ten years, where she gained extensive experience in manufacturing, commercial management, joint ventures and digitalization. She studied economics at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Today, Severine lives in Munich with her family and enjoys spending time together.

Mercedes-Benz is a strong partner of ARENA2036 and is working together with other industry partners on projects for future automotive production. Dr. Stephen Travers will present the latest topics and projects in the digital transformation of production at Mercedes-Benz: The current projects of Mercedes-Benz in the Arena2036 as well as MO360, the innovative and highly integrated digital ecosystem of production at Mercedes-Benz and the diverse applications of artificial intelligence in production.

As Director, Dr. Stephen Travers heads the "Technology & System Engineering" and "IT for Mercedes-Benz Operations" divisions at Mercedes-Benz AG. In these roles, he is responsible for digitalization, automation and control technology as well as IT. With over 16 years of experience in the company, Stephen has held various technical and management positions within Operations and IT. As co-founder of the digital production ecosystem MO360, he is actively shaping the digital transformation at Mercedes-Benz - both on the business and IT side. Stephen holds a degree in computer science and a doctorate from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg.