Science and Practice

The direct link to Science

Ongoing exchange between science and the practical world is one of UNITY's basic principles. Our close relationship with the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at the University of Paderborn enables us to ensure that our consulting services are consistently based on the current state of research. Numerous other forms of collaboration with science provide important momentum to work with our customers. A few examples:

UNITY at acatech

acatech (National Academy of Science and Engineering) advises government and society on technical, scientific and policy issues of the future. It promotes the exchange of science and business, thus making it a major driving force in the development of Industrie 4.0. Dr.-Ing. Frank Thielemann is a member of the acatech senate. UNITY also plays an active role in networks for product development and production, health technology, information and communications technology and mobility.
We are involved in these research projects:

■ "INBENZHAP – International Benchmark for Industrie 4.0" – Worked out options for
shaping industrial production in Germany.
■ "Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index" supports companies in the development and implementation of Industrie 4.0 strategies. The focus here is model development.
■ The goal of "IT Platforms for Smart Service Worlds" is to determine the need for harmonization in production area IT platforms.

Our Research Projects

Comet

The goal of this project with the TU Vienna is to establish an "Austrian Research Center for Digital
Production" that includes smart products and production development processes.

Digital City Paderborn

In the nationwide "Digital City" competition, the city of Paderborn took the second place. The region is now implementing its digitalization strategy together with UNITY.

Sponsoring Project FlexiEnergy

UNITY is partner of the sponsoring project FlexiEnergy – cross-sector planning of energy networks.

Business Models for Industrie 4.0

Based on business model patterns, an instrument was created for the development of business
models in the context of Industrie 4.0.

International Benchmark Industrie 4.0

Development of design options for German industrial production.

Inlumia Industrie 4.0

In this collaborative project we develop instruments to increase performance in SMEs through Industrie 4.0.

InnoServPro

This project develops innovative service products to realize individual, availability-oriented business models.

Leading-Edge Cluster for Industrie 4.0

UNITY is a core member of the Leading-Edge Cluster "Intelligent Technical Systems OstWestfalenLippe" (it’s OWL).

Project AI Marketplace

The Research Project "AI Marketplace" unites 20 research institutions and companies and is funded by the BMWi with 11.5 million euros.

Efficiency Improvement in Development Projects

A development process for complex cyber-physical systems and associated software tools were worked out in a research project.

Research project SORISMA

UNITY is participating in the SORISMA research project.

Technologiefonds OWL

UNITY is one of the largest financers of the Technologie Fonds OWL, which supports and promotes start-ups. UNITY board member Tomas Pfänder is a member of the investment committee.

Virtual Startup Operations using 3D Simulation

Innovative simulation methods are used to develop processes tailored to patient care for the new surgical hospital.

Cooperation with Universities

In addition to our close collaboration with the University of Paderborn, we also partner with numerous other universities and colleges: ETH Zürich, HAW Amburg, HS Osnabrück, Munich Business School, RWTH Aachen, SRH Hochschule Heidelberg, TU Hamburg-Harburg, Technical University Munich, University of Kaiserslautern, University of Mannheim, University of Paderborn, University of Stuttgart, etc. Here UNITY is involved in the form of lectures, seminars, workshops and joint projects. In order to convey our practical knowledge also to the executives of tomorrow some of our consult-ants take an active role as teachers, professors, contract lecturers and docents at renowned universities.