Published on December 17, 2025
Future Engineering: How will we learn, develop and automate in the future?
“You never bring about change by fighting the existing order. To change something, you create new things or take different paths that make the old order obsolete,” as futurologist Richard Buckminster Fuller described it several decades ago. True to this principle, researchers at the KIT Business Club's technology day on November 18, 2025, demonstrated how effective future engineering can be – not just analyzing future developments in a structured way, but actively helping to shape them. More than 30 company representatives met with researchers from various departments at KIT to exchange ideas at the “Future Engineering” technology day.
Between high-tech and change
In a rapidly changing world, it is essential to break new ground in order to create something new. The digital transformation is in full swing and will fundamentally change our lives and the way we learn and work. Which changes are already a reality and which could soon become one were key questions at this year's final technology day. At the start of the day, Prof. Thomas Hirth, Vice President Transfer and International Affairs at KIT, welcomed the guests and highlighted the importance of innovation and high tech for Germany as a business location.
KIT nova: New spaces for ideas and collaboration
KIT is making a valuable contribution to this: Prof. Sven Matthiesen and Dr. Moritz Mußgnug presented KIT nova to the guests, a newly founded six-storey innovation center at KIT. Here, knowledge, skill, and willingness are to be the three cornerstones for the success of innovations, and mistakes are to be seen as valuable learning opportunities on the path to the best result. KIT nova is intended to be a place where teaching, collaboration, and co-development will merge in the future. A space where students, teachers, and industry partners come together to experiment, develop new ideas, and create practical prototypes.
KIT nova is a place where ideas can be explored and turned into reality – whether physically or digitally. Equipped with a fully functional makerspace, special project work areas, and flexible collaboration spaces, KIT nova enables hands-on learning and interdisciplinary problem solving in STEM subjects – and beyond. (Image: KIT)
More than 30 company representatives took part in the “Future Engineering” technology day, which began in the KIT Executive building. (Photo: KIT)
The informal dialogue between partners from industry, representatives of start-ups and KIT promoted the joint generation of ideas. (Photo: KIT)
From text generator to problem solver
Prof. Anne Meyer from the Institute for Information Management in Engineering (IMI) demonstrated how AI can solve real practical problems (e.g., in logistics and production).
Large language models (LLMs) have long been more than just text generators. They are capable of developing their own heuristics for complex, real-world optimization problems – such as the unit load pre-marshalling problem (UPMP): a complex planning task in which loading units are sorted in a ground block warehouse. The aim is to minimize the number of repositioning operations. The LLMs generate heuristics whose results are astonishingly close to the optimum. It is not the model size that is decisive, but the context quality. Well-structured, well-thought-out prompt extensions can help even smaller models achieve high performance. Meyer's presentation showed how AI is becoming an active problem solver – and why heuristic development is one of the most exciting fields of modern AI research.
Entrepreneurial spirit at the technology day
Two market-proven solutions for future engineering were presented by the start-ups Saden GmbH and Ventecon Technologies GmbH.
As a provider of intelligent digital co-workers, Ventecon tied in directly with the theme of the day and showed how AI can be used to create better decision-making bases. A showcase gave guests insights into how the co-worker can provide targeted support to product management employees.
The Saden team used examples to show guests how their services can optimize entire processes in production, process engineering, and mechanical engineering with the help of digital simulation and the discrete element method (DEM): from bulk material simulations to feeding and assembly processes to mixing and screening processes. Digital twins and simulation models enable faster plant development, lower costs and increased efficiency even before the actual construction.
Automation in the ecosystem
In automation, digital twins, cyber security structures, and agent-based systems form the basis of future intelligent production systems, explained Prof. Mike Barth from the Institute of Control Systems (IRS). These IT technologies create a networked ecosystem in which production processes can be made more flexible and efficient. A particularly exciting aspect of his vision is mobile and modular plants in process engineering that can flexibly handle not only data flows but also material flows. This development will revolutionize production processes and requires a complete rethinking of planning and execution. The subsequent laboratory tour, in which some of the technologies were demonstrated in practice, gave a preview of this scenario.
Rethinking product development
Prof. Tobias Düser from the Institute of Product Engineering (IPEK) demonstrated what future engineering means for product development. According to Düser, the process is moving away from rigid waterfall processes toward flexible agile methods and ultimately DevOps approaches, which make it possible to involve customers throughout the entire process and incorporate direct feedback. He presented the integration of gamification, AI in requirements management and XR (extended reality), which enrich the development process in completely new ways. Participants experienced what this feels like during the subsequent tour of IPEK's XR Lab and Cyber-Physical Robotics Lab, where virtual and physical worlds merge and realistic development and testing environments are created. Düser's conclusion: Sooner or later, we will have to rethink the way we develop products.
During the tour of the Cyber-Physical Robotics Lab, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Mike Barth gave guests an insight into the technologies of future production systems that could revolutionize the efficiency of production processes. (Photo: KIT)
Guests had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with mobile and modular systems in process engineering at the Cyber-Physical Robotics Lab (IRS). (Photo: KIT)
In the XR Lab, guests were able to experience first-hand how gamification, AI and XR enrich development processes. (Photo: KIT)
The puzzle of reality
In the subsequent presentation, Prof. Sanja Lazarova-Molnar from the Institute of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods (AIFB) explored the often misunderstood concept of the digital twin. She showed that a digital twin is much more than a single model. Rather, it is created from an interplay of various building blocks that together enable a consistent representation of real systems. She described this interplay as a puzzle in which data-driven modeling through process mining – a data-based method for visualizing and optimizing business processes – forms the basis for accurately capturing real processes. Only when this data is merged with expert knowledge does a model emerge that is not only statistically correct but also interpretable in a technically meaningful way. This is complemented by multidimensional process mining and continuous validation, which enables the digital twin to evolve alongside the real system and become a reliable companion for decision-making.
Digitalization and AI in construction
Digitalization is also playing an increasingly important role in engineering work in the construction industry. Jun.-Prof. Reza Maalek from the Institute of Technology and Management in Construction (TMB) pointed out how much work is generated on construction sites by repair work, which is often due to insufficient or missing data. By analyzing millions of 3D coordinate points that precisely capture the surface of objects or environments (so-called point clouds) and using AI, defects could be detected at an early stage – before they have to be laboriously repaired. Maalek's vision of robot-aided construction goes even further: in the future, AI will not only optimize renovation and repair work, but also significantly support the planning of material requirements, construction site logistics and renovation processes, enabling construction projects to be implemented more efficiently and with fewer errors. This approach could have a direct and important impact on society in times of housing shortages.
With the technology day looking toward the future
The technology day highlighted the importance of innovation and the significance of networking now and in the future. The practical insights and tours of the laboratories demonstrated how research at KIT can directly contribute to innovative solutions in industry. This is precisely where the KIT Business Club team will continue to make its contribution in the future. We are already looking forward to the next formats!
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