On October 21, Karlstad University hosted DAMI Day – a day that brought together researchers and companies to explore how digitalization can drive sustainable industrial development. Under the theme “Sustainable Industry Through Innovation Together”, the event offered inspiring presentations, networking opportunities, and discussions about future challenges.
Digitalization is one of the biggest transformations facing industry today. DAMI, the research center for Digital Adaptive Manufacturing for Industry, works to create practical solutions by bridging academia and business. The goal is to build networks and make the industry of the future smarter, more adaptable, and more sustainable.
– We face many challenges in society that cannot be solved by a single actor. That’s why it’s so important to meet, create greater understanding, and find ways to address these challenges – cross-functionally, together,” says Anna Ericson Öberg, Adjunct Professor and Director of DAMI.
– I feel happy, inspired, and proud of DAMI Day. The fact that so many participants from companies, organizations, and the university prioritized attending shows how important this is. I hope and believe that many, including myself, leave the day with new contacts, insights, and ideas about the next steps we can take together,” adds Anna Ericson Öberg.
The program featured several short presentations on topics such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, synthetic data, energy flexibility, and supply chain development. Speakers highlighted both the risks and opportunities of rapid technological development and how companies can act to strengthen their competitiveness.
Among them, Stefan Alfredsson, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science at Karlstad University, spoke about how sensitive data leaks through the web and what actions to take before or after a breach in his talk “Your Data Dumped on Darknet?”.
Sebastian Herold, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, gave a presentation on synthetic data and how it can boost innovation, analysis, and AI development.
Industry Perspectives: Sustainable Steel Region and Glava Energy Center
Paul Nemes, strategist at Sustainable Steel Region, participated in the event. He works to connect stakeholders and highlight available funding opportunities, examining EU and national initiatives and linking companies to these contexts.
– The day has been really exciting. You get so many new ideas, and the format is both good and inspiring. The AI focus is super interesting and clearly a future issue, says Paul Nemes.
Oliver Ingwall King, Project Manager at Glava Energy Center, together with David Blecko, Manager Energy at Uddeholm, presented under the title “Are We Heading Toward a New ‘Covid Toilet Paper Situation’ – But in the Energy System?”. Their talk addressed what happens when everyone secures maximum power and how industry can manage price peaks and troughs in the electricity market.
Industry Sees Need for Education
Per-Martin Ekman, Section Manager for Process and Analysis at Stora Enso Skoghalls Bruk, also attended the event. He emphasized the importance of having a shared understanding of digitalization to move forward effectively.
– It was great to see what other companies are working on and interesting to learn about what Karlstad University has in the pipeline, including the new master’s program in Resilient Operations and Supply Chain Management, says Per-Martin Ekman.
– The most important area in digitalization, in my view, is getting everyone on board. A step that is often underestimated is education and creating a common knowledge base when starting something new. If you really want to make a difference in digitalization, you need to involve as many people as possible from the start and ensure they have roughly the same level of understanding, he adds.
DAMI – Research Center for Digital Adaptive Manufacturing
DAMI is a research center addressing cross-disciplinary digitalization challenges relevant to industry.
Learn more about DAMI’s activities and researchers:
