“IT & AI”

Contact:

Emanuel Friehs
Ludwigstraße 10a
97070 Würzburg
0931/452 652-13
friehs@mainfranken.org

Core Competencies
Number of workers employed in “IT & AI” (as of 2017): 4,900
Number of workers employed in information technology and services (as of 2017): 4,460
Number of workers employed in telecommunications (as of 2017): 440
Employment trend from 2010 to 2017: +1,550 (+46.3%)

Digital revolution

The digital revolution is in full swing. The changes are palpable all over Mainfranken. There are only few lines of business left that have not yet been touched by the digital age.

Accordingly, the “Information Technology & Artificial Intelligence” sector interfaces with many other sectors. Most notably, the digital revolution is rapidly changing the important economic sectors of mechanical engineering, automotive, health and medicine. Key technologies are driving developments in industrial automation, man-machine communication, fully connected cars, and telemedicine. The Mainfranken IT Network is an umbrella organization of prominent IT businesses that collaborate under a common name. Mainfranken also boasts successful business ventures in the areas of virtual reality and the gaming industry.

On the research end, there are the Zentrum für Telematik (ZfT), both Mainfranken colleges, as well as the local branch of the Steinbeis Research Center for Design and Systems that help with the transfer of scientific discoveries to practical applications. Both colleges are currently greatly expanding their offerings in artificial intelligence. The University Würzburg is mostly engaged in interdisciplinary basic research in line with the Bavarian network “Artificial Machine Intelligence.” The College of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, on the other hand, is involved in robotics research to aid businesses. A new degree program with an emphasis on programming and utilization of artificial intelligence is in the works.

Employment opportunities are many. From 2010 to 2017, the number of people employed in the “IT & AI” sector rose by 46.3% to a total of 4,900. This Mainfranken niche is closely related to two of the national areas of great future growth identified by Prognos: “Digital, Cultural, and Creative Economies” and “Information and Communication Technologies.”