INDTECH - new research school in collaboration

INDTECH, Industrial Technology Graduate School, offers advanced education in the field of industrial digitalisation, a new and emerging area of technology that revolutionises every aspect of the manufacturing and process industries. This project is a collaboration between Mälardalen University and the companies Alstom, Volvo Construction Equipment, ESEM, Mälarenergi, Kanthal, Siemens, Westermo, and SMEs such as Addiva and Peltarion.

Swedish industrial production is currently undergoing a fundamental technological shift stemming from industry-wide digitalisation of products, services and production processes. From a technological viewpoint, the core of the ongoing shift is the broad digitalisation and connectedness of all industrial systems. Today, IndTech solutions marketed by international manufacturing companies based in Sweden are world-leading, and the area is therefore strategically important on a national level.

Focusing on the deployment of Industry 4.0 and applied AI

Moreover, the potential of the IndTech area is huge with productivity increases up to 30 per cent. However, according to the World Economic Forum, at least half of all employees in the industry require upskilling and reskilling to be able to use the potential of digitalization. By as early as 2022, it is predicted that 42 per cent of core skills required to perform existing jobs will change. This demand will be covered by the participating 14 industrial partners and has shaped the core content and plan for the graduate school.

- The INDTECH project is an industrial graduate school at MDH, focusing on the deployment of Industry 4.0 and applied AI in production systems in collaboration with 12 partnering organizations consisting of leading industrial companies, research institutes and technology centres, and supporting organizations such as AI Sweden, PiiA, Automation Region and Blue Institute, says Markus Bohlin, the coordinator of the project.

Increased competence and expertise

The goal is to award doctorates to 15 externally employed PhD students employed at the partnering organisations, thereby strengthening the long-term industrial competitiveness of Sweden. The INDTECH industrial graduate school aims to educate doctoral students in Industrial Digitalisation and develop future research leaders in this field.

Apart from strategic expertise gained through the education of the 15 PhD candidates, the results will be increased competence and expertise in scientific areas of strategic relevance to the Swedish manufacturing industry.

- The establishment of Industry 4.0 and applied AI as a joint theme of excellence for MDH is one result. Strengthening of the production engineer profession and the regional and national ecosystem of production research, innovation, and development is another expected result of INDTECH, says Markus Bohlin.

The INDTECH Research School will be hosted by the School of Innovation, Design and Engineering (IDT) with support from the School of Business, Society and Engineering (EST). IDT and EST are two multidisciplinary, collaborative and co-producing Schools at Mälardalen University (MDH), accommodating the three research environments of Innovation and Product Realisation (IPR), Embedded Systems (ES), and the Future Energy Center (FEC).