“Materials 4.0 – the digitally enabled atom to system revolution”: it is under this heading that 34 junior scientists from 20 countries and 4 continents will come together at TU Dresden in the week from September 11-15, 2017.

It is the ninth International Summer School taking place this year, and funded by TU Dresden’s Institutional Strategy (ZUK). At the same time, "Materials 4.0" will be the last of a total of 27 events funded under the ZUK’s internationalisation measure, "International Summer Schools". The programme has existed since 2013 and expires on October 31, 2017.

The Summer School "Materials 4.0", initiated by Prof. Gianaurelio Cuniberti, Prof. Ronald Tetzlaff and OTT Prof. Daniel Balzani, will focus on innovative ways of discovering, developing and utilising new materials.

This is an issue that is more topical than ever, with the "fourth industrial revolution" already in full swing. Smart factories of a future Industry 4.0 will be able to work much more flexibly, individually and efficiently thanks to information technology. The materials used need to keep up: during the entire development and production process, these are digitally recorded and linked as Materials 4.0.

"At universities all over the world, the doctoral candidates doing research now will put their stamp on science and technology during the next 50 years. And in order to do so, they must be fit and flexible regarding future developments," says Prof. Cuniberti. "This also means thinking beyond your own topic at an early stage, and being thoroughly informed about future trends. And Dresden as Europe's capital of materials research is the ideal place for this!"

The Summer School will offer a broad and varied range of events during which modern approaches to and uses of materials are presented and discussed, going beyond traditional ways of thinking. For example, Prof. Ralf B. Wehrspohn of the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems Halle (IMWS)  will present the Materials Data Space® at his evening lecture on September 13, 2017 (at 6 pm, room 229, Görgesbau, TU Dresden). This is a platform that provides all relevant information on processes, materials and components efficiently and in a digital form, so that in future, it can be shared across companies.

Other thematic priorities of the Summer School are the additive manufacturing of materials as diverse as metals or biomaterials, new materials for electronics and energy technology, as well as innovative and efficient simulation methods and algorithms.

Additional information:
Prof. Dr. Gianaurelio Cuniberti (TUD, Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering)
Phone: +49 351 463-31409