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THE EMPLOYEE PORTAL

With the construction of photovoltaic systems on the Barleben campus, the university has taken a further step towards implementing its 2020 energy concept (in German) and achieving greater climate neutrality. At the beginning of the year, a PV system was installed on the roof of the hall of the Institute for Competence in AutoMobility IKAM (in German) .It has an output of 70 kWp. A ground-mounted PV system with an output of 880 kWp was also installed on the site. For this, 2,500 modules with an area of 4,800 m2 were installed. This accounts for 25 percent of the area.

Together with the existing PV system on the roof of the Center for Method Development CMD (in German), this will provide the site with around 1 MWp of photovoltaic power. Most of the energy produced will be consumed in the CMD, the new data center and by IKAM, covering around 30 percent of the new data center's high energy requirements.

The construction of a new data center in Barleben will create an additional node in the science network of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. This can be used by the state's universities as a redundant location for data backup, but also in particular for outsourcing services (e.g. cloud storage). The primary partners of the new node are the Harz and Magdeburg-Stendal universities and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg. Thanks to the state electricity contract with 100 percent green electricity and the generation of climate-neutral electricity by the PV systems, the new data center in Barleben will be operated sustainably to a large extent. Completion of the new data center is planned for the end of 2025.

Medical engineer Prof. Christoph Hoeschen, who holds the Chair of "Medical Technology Systems" at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, was presented with an award from the German government by Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Dr. Bettina Hoffmann, for the success of a lighthouse project he led in research into AI in medical imaging.

In the joint research project KI-INSPIRE, OVGU, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and the University of Lübeck developed procedures that could reduce the radiation dose in interventional medical imaging by two-thirds using AI and safely test these procedures. "Radiation-based procedures such as computed tomography are important in diagnostics and minimally invasive therapy in order to obtain a picture of medical conditions and treat patients appropriately," emphasizes Prof. Hoeschen. "However, this also involves a high level of radiation exposure, both for patients and for medical staff."

Hoeschen and his team, together with the partners in their research project, have used AI to improve image quality while using less raw data. "During the intervention, the same areas are repeatedly recorded in the image and a needle or catheter is inserted at the same time. This means that there is a lot of preliminary information. And I can have this information integrated into the subsequent images by an AI. Then I don't need live images and therefore have a lower radiation dose. The AI algorithms also filter out interference when processing the raw data. This results in images with a higher image sharpness, less noise and fewer artifacts. This can be done live, the data is virtually provided online and the doctor could see this directly on the screen in the future."

This requires various further steps: Firstly, consideration must be given to the potential implementation of the procedures in interventional imaging systems that generate computed tomographic images, as the algorithms can only be used sensibly if they are used directly in clinical systems. On the other hand, further research is needed to really prove that the procedures provide at least as good information for the treatment of patients as previous procedures, although the exposure to ionizing radiation could be so much lower. The quality assurance of the procedures and their interaction with the hardware has also not yet been solved. To this end, the 3D-printed phantoms developed in the project, which contain structures similar to human tissue, are to be further developed.

The federal government is currently considering further funding measures to further promote the implementation of the results of the lighthouse projects.
The KI-INSPIRE project was a three-year so-called AI lighthouse project of the Federal Government, which was carried out jointly by the Chair of Medical Technology Systems at OVGU, the CT working group at the DKFZ led by Prof. Dr. Marc Kachelrieß and the Chair of Instrumentation of Medical Imaging at the University of Lübeck led by Prof. Dr. Magdalena Rafecas. The OVGU working group coordinated the project.
The AI lighthouse projects are advertised by the Federal Government by topic by various ministries in order to promote AI-based processes and make Germany more competitive in this area.

A delegation from Otto von Guericke University (OVGU) in Magdeburg was also invited to the celebrations in Havelberg to mark the 25th anniversary of the Student Institute for Technology and Applied Computer Science (SITI e.V.). Representatives of the Chair of Engineering Education and Didactics of Technical Education traveled to Havelberg together with Prof. Dr. Hartmut Zadek, Head of the Industrial Engineering and Logistics course. In keeping with the occasion, Prof. Zadek presented a technical "gift". He symbolically handed over a first module from a Fischertechnik automation system and a gift certificate to Dr. Hannes König, Chairman of the Schüler-Institut SITI e.V. association and teacher at Diesterweg-Gymnasium in Havelberg. The surprise was a success and the joy was great - Dr.-Ing. König had already built this system 23 years ago with three pupils in a 3D simulation. The entire system, consisting of around 30 modules and a gantry crane, is due to be handed over soon. The new system will be built in the robot construction laboratory of the Schüler-Institut with the support of Hannes König's technology courses at Diesterweg-Gymnasium and a modular control system will be developed with interested students.

Every year, innovative ideas, new product developments from the six technology-oriented student companies and small research projects, which are often created in cooperation with companies, are presented, evaluated by jurors and awarded prizes at the SITI e.V. student company and inventor fair. The first results of the new automation system will certainly also be on display at next year's fair.

The SITI and OVGU have been working together successfully since the association was founded: Dr.-Ing. König prepares pupils for technical studies as part of his technology lessons at Havelberger Gymnasium and, in particular, through extracurricular individual support at the Schüler-Institut. Hannes König also works as a lecturer at the OVGU in teacher training for the subject of technology.

Hartmut Zadek expressed his thanks for the many years of good cooperation and emphasized the great importance of such extracurricular learning locations and other STEM initiatives for future engineering students. It is important to give pupils the opportunity to get to know technology and natural sciences not only in theory as part of their school curriculum, but also to work on practical applications with support.

In addition to their work in teaching and research, academics at our university are also involved in other areas of society and pass on their expertise. Prof. Dr. Sebastian Eichfelder from the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics was recently invited as an expert to the Legal Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag. The holder of the Chair of Business Taxation contributed his professional assessment of the draft of the 4th Bureaucracy Relief Act to the meeting. He emphasized the importance of reducing companies' bureaucratic costs, but doubted that the planned reduction in the obligation to retain accounting documents would lead to any significant reduction in bureaucracy. Prof. Dr. Sebastian Eichfelder answered a few questions for us.

How did it come about that you were invited to the committee meeting as an expert?

I have been working in the field of estimating and analyzing the bureaucratic costs of companies in the area of taxes and accounting since my doctorate. In 2020, for example, I carried out a third-party funded project for the FPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, which involved estimating the bureaucratic costs of the temporary reduction in VAT during the coronavirus pandemic. However, the specific request probably also has something to do with the fact that my former doctoral student and research assistant Dr. Jonas Knaisch has been working as a tax expert for the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group in the Bundestag since May, from which the request came.

How would you summarize the Fourth Bureaucracy Reduction Act?

The 4th Bureaucracy Reduction Act provides for a wealth of measures that are intended to help reduce bureaucracy. The Act contains more than 60 articles on amendments to various laws - such as the Commercial Code, the Fiscal Code, etc. I focused my interventions in the committee meeting on one measure in particular. The bill provides for retention periods for commercial and tax documents to be reduced from 10 to 8 years. According to the draft bill, this should result in a reduction in bureaucratic costs of 625 million euros. This is around 2/3 of the total cost savings of 944 million euros envisaged in the draft. However, these considerable cost savings based purely on a reduction in retention periods appear absolutely unrealistic from a business perspective. I have spoken to a wide range of practitioners and also checked the plausibility of the underlying calculation model. As a result, it can be stated that the measure of reducing retention periods appears to make little sense and will do practically nothing to relieve companies in terms of bureaucratic costs. I pointed this out at the committee meeting and emphasized the need for further measures to reduce the bureaucratic burden on companies.

What is your personal motivation for getting involved in political consulting?

Ultimately, for me it is about making a positive contribution to social development in Germany and the common good. My research, as well as the research of many of my colleagues, leads to interesting and sometimes socially relevant findings. However, these will only have a positive impact on society if they are recognized by the public and politicians. Reducing bureaucracy seems to me to be an important issue overall - especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers. If I can contribute to this goal with my expertise, or even prevent measures that make little sense, then I am very pleased.

Thank you very much, Professor Eichfelder, for the interview.

Martin Krause is the new head of the Transfer and Property Rights department at the Transfer and Start-up Center, or TUGZ for short. The patent assessor is responsible for examining the university's own inventions. In addition to advising on and examining patents, his area of work encompasses much more than is apparent at first glance.

What are your tasks at TUGZ? How can you support founders with their ideas and patents?

My tasks here are (Pre-)evaluation of newly submitted invention disclosures, i.e. I check whether the invention is not already known from older prior art. To do this, I first carry out searches in patent office databases and check whether the invention has not already been described in an older patent document. If I can't find anything disturbing there, an in-depth examination is carried out by a service agency, which not only searches the prior art, but also provides an assessment of the exploitation possibilities. If their report is positive, I or an external patent law firm prepare a draft patent application, which is reviewed and possibly amended by the inventors. A patent is then applied for at a patent office.

My colleague Christoph Mendel then takes care of exploiting the patents, i.e. offering them to industry partners. The same applies to trademarks: For example, if MKM wants to register a new trademark or design, I research whether there are any older trademarks or designs that could potentially cause conflict. I also take care - in consultation with the legal department - of contractual regulations regarding patents, trademarks or designs. Training courses on patents, trademarks and designs also fall within my remit.

Martin Krause, Head of the Transfer and Property Rights Department at the Transfer and Start-up Center (Photo: Dario Krause/ University of Magdeburg)

What does a typical working day look like for you?

Ultimately, it consists of carrying out the tasks mentioned above: Correspondence with inventors, replying to examination notifications and so on. And our patent paralegal Lisa-Marie Raugust makes sure that I don't miss any deadlines - of which there are plenty in my job. Every day, a new task, a new invention, from areas that were previously unknown to me, awaits me.

Where did you work before your new job at the university?

Before that, I worked in several patent law firms as a patent attorney, but mainly as a patent assessor in the patent departments of industrial companies - mainly in the automotive sector, but also for a manufacturer of robots for minimally invasive surgery. There are few differences in terms of content, but the environment is more specialized.

What would you like to achieve in your new position?

I would like researchers to not only know that we exist here at the TUGZ, but also and above all to sharpen their mindset so that they realize how easy it actually is to make a patentable invention. I assume that they have already made many inventions that were not even recognized as such. And the invention is then - if you please - reported to us so that we can apply for a patent for the invention. Very important: This must happen before a scientific publication in a journal or on the OVGU website. If it is published BEFORE a patent application is filed, it is unfortunately "GAME OVER", as the invention would then no longer be new.

I would also like to point out to the inventors that they enjoy a very special privilege at a university that "normally employed" inventors can only dream of: If the invention is exploited, they receive 30 percent of the income generated by the exploitation. That's a lot of wood - and I should actually know a thing or two about wood, because I have a degree in forestry ...

Thank you, Mr. Krause, for the interview!

The interview was conducted by JANINA MARKGRAF.