Bridging Academia and Industry: IDT Seminar Final at SAP

As part of the ongoing collaboration between the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and SAP, members of the ii research group, Prof. Dr. Ali Sunyaev, Elena Fantino, and Nils Ness, visited the SAP campus for the Final Presentation of the IDT seminar.

The two-day visit began with a guided tour across the SAP campus, including a stop at the S-Mart Store, a fully digitalized shopping environment leveraging RFID technology to enable a cashier-less experience. The tour also included visits to Cloud 44 and other innovative workspaces, providing insight into SAP’s digital infrastructure and campus design.

In the evening, participants and guests gathered for a BBQ dinner, providing an opportunity for informal exchange. The evening — and this semester’s IDT Seminar, was hosted by Gerhard Oswald and Prof. Helmut Krcmar. Among the attendees were Stefan Bäuerle, Sonja Liénard, Sindhu Gangadharan, Mira Wohlhueter, Dr. Katharina Wollenberg, Rüdiger Eichin, and Pavan Kumar.

The second day was dedicated to the Final Presentations of the IDT seminar. In this format, students presented their results and proposed solutions to real-world industry challenges contributed by partners such as Lanxess, K+S, Daimler Trucks, HCLTech & ASAP, and SAP. The presentations demonstrated the students’ ability to apply their knowledge and skills to practical, industry-relevant problems, highlighting the value of this collaborative seminar model.

We thank SAP and in particular Heiko Frey for the organization and continued support of this joint initiative.