You mention the wide diversity of issues in different business sectors. What do you think customers want?
As scientists, we always try to simplify the question, which means applying the exclusion principle. Hence, we start by asking ourselves what the customer doesn’t want.
I think it’s safe to assume that most customers aren’t very interested in hearing about test systems (in the conventional sense). In brief, what customers really need is an intelligent solution that creates added value and helps them optimize their processes. This solution might use, for example, cognitive sensors that are smart enough to determine what data needs to be collected and analyzed to deliver the information needed to make the right decisions.
This principle applies to every business sector, any process, and any imaginable task. A good example is the project we did with the startup company Mifitto. We were asked to find the most efficient and cost-effective way of extracting digital data on the internal dimensions of thousands upon thousands of different pairs of shoes so that online shoppers can be sure of choosing the right size. We were able to deliver the necessary information based on precise, high-speed computed tomography data, and we also created a further significant source of added value by combining highly accurate X-ray data with intelligent software. As a result, Mifitto could advise its customers not only on size alone, but also on what shoe would provide the optimum fit.
What do you mean by “smart” in the context of data analysis?
Intelligent monitoring is the watchword. In the future, it will be less a question of deciding between good and bad than of providing customers with a tool that enables them to optimize their processes by means of a monitoring system. And, as I mentioned earlier, “process” doesn’t refer only to production processes. It also includes things such as materials development, design, maintenance and recycling processes. Each of these can and must be optimized separately. Consequently, we have shifted the focus of our research efforts toward the development of cognitive and self-adapting sensor systems.