KI-now receives five million euros until 2029

At the start of the second funding phase, André Heim (Government of Lower Franconia), Lukas Koch, Christoph Hoffmann, Professor Frank Döpper, Professor Marco Huber, and Hartmut Eigenbrot from Fraunhofer IPA met on February 10, 2026 (from left) at KI-noW in Schweinfurt. © Fraunhofer IPA / Photo: Daniel Müller

The Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy is funding the Schweinfurt Research and Transfer Center KI-noW with an additional nearly five million euros until the end of 2029. With a new focus on AI-supported simulations, the KI-noW continues to support companies in digital transformation.

An unusual noise is enough for an experienced employee to know which wear part needs to be replaced on their machine. However, many of these sought-after specialists are currently retiring. Because production managers naturally still want to avoid scrap and machine downtime, they are forced to find alternative solutions – with artificial intelligence.

Exactly this step is currently being taken by the two medium-sized companies KLT Hummel Plastic and Retrofit Plastics. The former produces plastic components in Schweinfurt, while the latter manufactures and repairs extrusion systems and components or prepares them in nearby Oberstreu. Together with a research team from KI-noW, the two companies are developing AI models that can detect wear and quality defects early on, using comparatively little machine data.

Questions surrounding digitization and artificial intelligence

“The algorithms we developed using meta-learning methods can be transferred to similar machines, materials, and production processes with just a few targeted adjustments. This means they could be used in other machines, companies, and industries with little effort in the future,” says Christoph Hoffmann. Hoffmann heads the research and transfer center “Artificial Intelligence for Sustainably Optimized Value Creation” (AI-noW) in Schweinfurt, an external branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation IPA.

Since its founding in October 2020, the research team at KI-noW has generally dealt with questions around Industry 4.0, digitization, and the integration of artificial intelligence into production: How do you access machine data? How do you prepare this data to make it usable for machine learning methods? And of course: How can the problems caused by AI on a system be translated into clear, understandable action recommendations for the machine operator?

Future focus on AI-supported simulations

In this way, KI-noW contributes to strengthening regional competitiveness and securing jobs in the long term – primarily in the Schweinfurt region, but fundamentally also in all other parts of Bavaria. In addition to successfully implementing numerous industrial projects and publicly funded research collaborations, researchers led by Hoffmann have conducted twelve case studies on digitization and AI in production over the past five years, built 19 demonstrators, and trained a total of 400 guests through workshops and seminars. This is reason enough for the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy to continue funding KI-noW with an additional nearly five million euros until the end of 2029.

In the second funding phase, which began on January 1, 2026, the KI-noW research team aims to focus more on AI-supported simulations. “While that will be our main focus, we will continue to address questions from companies related to production and beyond,” Hoffmann says. And openness to companies from other regions of Bavaria will remain: “Industries in other parts of the country are also in the midst of transformation, and we want to support them with advice and assistance,” Hoffmann adds.