Agriculture 4.0:

TU Kaiserslautern announces "Digital Farming" Professorship

Kaiserslautern, 18 November 2019: Autonomous tractors, drones for monitoring crops, or data-supported use of crop inputs – these examples show that agriculture is undergoing a digital transformation. To meet the resulting demands, the University of Kaiserslautern (TUK) is creating a professorship for digital farming. The aim is to research new technologies and develop them in an application-oriented manner. This involves, for example, managing data and supporting agricultural processes with automation techniques. In addition to holding the professorship in the Department of Computer Science, the position includes a leading function at the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE. The association Friends of Digital Farming e.V. supports TUK in setting up the new professorship. 

TU Kaiserslautern cooperates closely with Fraunhofer IESE in many research projects. This is also planned for the new professorship. In addition, TUK and Fraunhofer IESE cooperate with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and numerous technology companies also located near the university campus. The new professorship will also benefit from this network and contribute to strengthening Kaiserslautern's importance as an excellent science and technology hub for digital transformation and innovation. 

With modern information and communication technologies, robotics, and the "Internet of Things", the agricultural sector can become a pioneer of digitalisation and guarantee networked, socially compatible, traceable, and optimised food production. The founding members of the newly founded Friends of Digital Farming e.V. are convinced of this and financially support TU Kaiserslautern in the establishment of the new professorship. 

"We are pleased to be able to further strengthen our research profile and expand the range of our study programmes in an innovative way with the new "Digital Farming" professorship. This will create a working group that can dedicate itself to this interdisciplinary, increasingly important topic," explains Professor Dr. Arnd Poetzsch-Heffter, Vice President for Research and Technology at TU Kaiserslautern. "The high social and regulatory demands placed on a modern, European agriculture continuously require new talents, technologies, and business models. The professorship will support farmers and the agricultural industry in successfully shaping the digital transformation," says Dr. Matthias Nachtmann, Chairman of the Friends of Digital Farming e.V.

Applicants for the professorship are cordially invited to submit their documents by mail or e-mail to the Dean's Office of the Department of Computer Science at TUK: 

Dean's Office of the Department of Computer Science
University of Kaiserslautern (TUK)
P.O. Box 3049
67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany

or by e-mail to dekanat@informatik.uni-kl.de 

About the Friends of Digital Farming e.V. 

The aim is to optimize yields and food quality while preserving natural resources. The promotion of young talents, research and development of new technologies, as well as the testing of new business models play a decisive role. This is the strong belief of the members of the Friends of Digital Farming e.V.: ALDI Süd Group, BASF SE, Empolis Information Management GmbH, Hochwald Foods GmbH, HYDAC Electronic GmbH, ITK Engineering GmbH, John Deere GmbH & Co. KG, Kraichgauer Güterverwaltungen KG, Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt Hofgut Neumühle, Pessl Instruments GmbH, RAUCH Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH and Schmiedhof.

Information

Contact: Dr. Matthias Nachtmann, August Altherr 
Internet: friendsofdigitalfarming.org   
Phone: +49 631 41486250
Email: info@friendsofdigitalfarming.org