Research

Research field

The foundation of INDTECH is industry-centered research in innovative production development through data-driven applications for manufacturing and process industries. By analyzing data from connected and simulated production systems, it is possible to both quickly and efficiently identify and predict arising problems as well as evaluate a wide range of alternative production scenarios. Transformation from today’s status into more intelligent and smart systems also requires further advancement in data and system competences, especially the combination of advanced production and data science is expected to become important to tackle several fundamental issues. The field is by nature interdisciplinary and includes aspects from:

Mälardalen University position

Mälardalen University (MDH) has a proven track record in close industrial collaboration and leading competence in production and embedded systems, and is, with a matching aspiration to be Sweden’s next technical university, uniquely positioned to spearhead the digitalization of Swedish industry outlined above. In contrast to the ongoing ARRAY graduate school focusing on industrial automation and technology development, the INDTECH research school focuses on industrialization and production system development through the introduction of data-driven production systems.

Research Tracks

The research field of INDTECH is organized into four tracks covering core topics for manufacturing and process industries in production optimization through, and deployment of, Industry 4.0 and applied AI. For the tracks, the position of MDH from a national and international perspective is given below.

Digital transformation of Production Systems

There is a common consensus that digital technologies such as IIoT, cloud computing and data analytics will contribute to the transformation of traditional production facilities into highly optimized smart factories with production systems that can efficiently and effectively handle the demands of the customer.

Industrial Artificial Intelligence

To stay competitive in the long run, smarter and more advanced AI products and production systems are needed, both as integrated parts of new products and as applied on production systems to optimize these.

Resilient Industrial Systems

Due to the widespread adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in Industry 4.0 and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), modern industrial production systems are connected to external and “open” networks, such as wireless links and the Internet, which increases their exposure to cyber-threats.

Energy Efficient Production and Control

Optimal system design, development, production and operation can be enabled by the advent of digitalization including digital twins and smart sensors.

Publications

With 9 of the 15 INDTECH students allocated to IPR, the estimated resulting research output are almost 50 scientific publications, a substantial contribution to IPR’s ambition to be an internationally recognized partner in Industry 4.0 and Applied AI. By actively promoting publications in journals and top-ranking conferences, IndTech will follow the MDH strategy to increase the number of international high-ranking academic journals- or conferences publications, strengthening MDHs national and international academic position.

See publications