Rieter sponsoring Professorship for Artificial Intelligence at ZHAW

The textiles machine engineering firm Rieter is supporting the ZHAW School of Engineering in its efforts to establish an Endowed Professorship for Artificial Intelligence (AI). It is set to be announced before the end of this year. The mechanical engineering group will sponsor the professorship in partnership with the Johann Jacob Rieter Foundation to the tune of 300,000 Swiss francs per annum.

The new Endowed Professorship is being established at the Center for Artificial Intelligence at ZHAW in Winterthur in the canton of Zurich. This should focus in particular on the application of machine learning methods and knowledge-based systems in connection with processes in production and services, further details of which can be found in a press release. According to ZHAW, the increasing digitization of production processes is opening up new perspectives for Winterthur as a business location and its Smart Machines cluster.

Dirk Wilhelm, Director of the ZHAW School of Engineering, explains the contribution made by the company and foundation: “The use of Artificial Intelligence in industry is becoming increasingly important, especially with regard to the potential of data for evaluation and control of complex processes”. According to Rieter CEO Norbert Klapper, who sums up the company’s commitment, this makes Artificial Intelligence “an important element of the leading technology that Rieter offers”.