DFKI combines scientific excellence and business-oriented development with social value creation. Founded in 1988, DFKI is a public-private partnership that researches on human-centric AI, focusing on scientific excellence and social relevance. After 22 years at the top of the company, Prof. Wahlster, who had actively promoted the founding of DFKI in the 1980s, retired from the CEO position. The appointment of Prof. Koehler as successor to Prof. Wahlster is the result of an international call and a process that began in 2017.
Prof. Dr. Jana Koehler was Professor of Computer Science at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland. Methods of artificial intelligence and the topic of business process management were her focal points in teaching and research. From 1990 to 1996 she was a research assistant at DFKI in Saarbrücken, Germany. She completed research stays at the universities of Linköping (S), Maryland (USA), Berkeley (USA) and Freiburg (D). Further professional stations were the Schindler company and the IBM research laboratory in Rüschlikon/Switzerland. She is the co-author of one of the most important standards in the field of Business Process Management that was adopted in 2011 (BPMN 2.0). Her current research focuses on AI for INDUSTRIE 4.0 and architectures of intelligent planning and scheduling systems.
Prof. Wahlster retired from his chair at Saarland University on December 31, 2018 and handed over the position of CEO and Scientific Director to Prof. Koehler on February 1, 2019. Prof. Koehler is also the successor to his Chair of Artificial Intelligence at Saarland University.
On February 25, 2019, a scientific ceremony will take place in Saarbrücken to mark the handover of office with international contributions from the DFKI environment. Further information: https://www.dfki.de/en/web/news/detail/News/academic-handover-dfki-management-board/