Summary: second day of INCOM 2021

The second day of INCOM 2021 begun with a virtual round table panel about the well-known yet rarely debated phase: “data is the new oil”.

During the 45-minute-long session, the participants discussed the relevance of data science as a new field, arguing if it is more or less a new name for statistics, but with larger focus on IT. One participant explained how they used data science and analysis for artistic endeavors, for example, finding missing information on certain paintings that an AI algorithm could easily fill by analyzing the surrounding imagery. This might be an important step to preserve as much of our cultural heritage, with the help of data analytics, as technically possible.

Tuesday’s keynote was presented by Prof. Jürgen Beyerer, who talked about the optimization of production processes by artificial intelligence and machine learning methods. “AI and ML can help to accelerate the maturation of new production processes towards fully capable processes in order to reduce the time to market of new products significantly. A process is called “immature” if it cannot be operated with the required productivity and product quality. This is especially the case when new materials and production technologies are employed, when the manufacturing process has a vast number of parameters and high‐dimensional state‐spaces, and when only poor dynamical process models are available at the outset” – says the official abstract.

The second day of INCOM 2021 had 17 presentations in 5 virtual rooms. Advanced manufacturing, robotics, AI and simulation were key topics of the event.