Digital technologies lead to major disruptive changes in the business world, in public institutions and in civilian society. Digital tools are becoming increasingly more effective and are often available at low cost. They offer a wide range of opportunities, but also involve risks.

Customer relationships will largely depend on the extent to which new digital possibilities for interaction are used. Previously rigid value chains will evolve into dynamic networks. New competitors with innovative, IT-based business models will position themselves on the market. In the public sector, the use of digital technologies will make services more efficient and determine the attractiveness of locations. Fast, transparent and inter-agency processes can be used to secure business sites and strengthen the trust of the public. Civil society institutions can also take advantage of the opportunities offered by digitalization.

Identifying the opportunities and risks of new digital technologies at an early stage and making the best possible use of them through targeted applications and change processes are crucial challenges for everyone involved.

The aim of this core research area is to carry out specific research projects in collaboration with partners from industry, science and society on the issues outlined above. For example, groundbreaking digital technologies and methods for creating intelligent information systems are being researched. Artificial intelligence methods are being tested and further developed for various application contexts, such as health, production and media. Studies in the field of the internet of things play a major role in the analysis of sensor data for issues in the field of smart cities. In user research and human-machine interaction projects, applications from both the private sector and public institutions are being optimized, including marketing automation and video-on-demand systems. With regard to public sector stakeholders, application systems in the humanities and their work processes are being examined in terms of their technological and social innovation potential.

Using innovative technologies like Big Data methods and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) applications, new optimization approaches for topics in industry and society are being explored. In addition, strategies for identifying and introducing new technologies for the successful use of digital innovations, such as artificial intelligence, are researched and best practices developed. In the field of IT security in the cloud, the analysis of architectural and organizational patterns is central.