He laid the foundation for the Leading-Edge Cluster and shaped it's OWL for years at the head of the Cluster Board - Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Gausemeier. Now his successor has been chosen: Dr. Stefan Breit, Managing Director of Miele, is the new chairman of the association's board. Breit has been involved in the technology network since 2016 and was most recently active alongside Gausemeier as deputy chairman on the cluster board since 2019. The cluster board is responsible for the strategic orientation of it's OWL. Gausemeier did not stand for re-election.

"We are delighted to be able to drive forward the development of it's OWL with Stefan Breit at the helm of the association. We have already benefited enormously from his outstanding expertise in recent years. In the future, we want to jointly tackle the topics of digitalisation and sustainability for the Leading-Edge Cluster and the OstWestfalenLippe region," says Günter Korder, Managing Director of it's OWL Clustermanagement GmbH. Breit has served as Managing Director of Technology at the Miele Group since 2016. Breit has been elected as cluster board chairman for three years. He is assisted by Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Schramm-Wölk (President of Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences) and Frank Maier (Board Member Innovation Lenze SE) as Vice Chairmen.

The three-year term of office ended for Gausemeier and other members who had been active for the technology network since it's OWL was founded. Roland Bent (deputy chairman of the cluster board), Sven Hohorst, Herbert Sommer (honorary member), Karl-Heinz Stiller (honorary member) and Dr. Eduard Sailer (associate member) did not stand again.

"We would like to thank all cluster board members:inen for their trusting cooperation as well as their outstanding support over the past ten years. They have been at the side of it's OWL since the very beginning and have played a major role in the success of the technology network," says Roman Dumitrescu, Managing Director of it's OWL Clustermanagement GmbH.

He added that special thanks go to the former chairman. "Jürgen Gausemeier has shaped the Leading-Edge Cluster and the Paderborn research location for Intelligent Technical Systems like no other. It is to his credit that business and science in OstWestfalenLippe work together so magnificently and that it's OWL is considered one of the largest German initiatives for Industry 4.0 in SMEs."

How Gausemeier shaped the Leading-Edge Cluster

In 2011, Jürgen Gausemeier laid the foundation for the it's OWL Leading-Edge Cluster with the strategy for the technology network, which is now known as one of the largest initiatives for Industry 4.0 in SMEs and enjoys a high reputation both nationally and internationally. The new 2017 strategy for the continuation of it's OWL until 2022 also comes from Prof. Gausemeier.

As early as 2010, Jürgen Gausemeier played a key role in founding the Fraunhofer Project Group and in its very successful development. In 2016, just five years after the start of the project group, the Fraunhofer IEM was incorporated into the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft as an independent institution with federal and state funding. Today, with over 200 employees, the Fraunhofer IEM continues Jürgen Gausemeier's research at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at the University of Paderborn.

The 73-year-old is an honorary member of the Heinz Nixdorf Institute. He was previously a senior professor there. His main areas of work were strategic product planning and systems engineering. He was spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Centre 614 'Self-optimising Systems in Mechanical Engineering' and a member of the Science Council from 2009 to 2015. Jürgen Gausemeier is the initiator and chairman of the supervisory board of the consulting company UNITY AG. He has been a member of acatech - German Academy of Science and Engineering since 2003 and Vice President since 2012.