Steffen Scholz is Head of the research team ‘Process Optimization, Information Management and Applications’, part of the Institute for Automation and Applied Informatics (IAI), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He is a Honorary Professor at Swansea University, UK and an Adjunct Professor at the Vellore Institute of Technology, India. He was also Principal Investigator in the Helmholtz funded long-term programs ‘Digital System integration’ and ‘Printed Materials and Systems’. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of system integration and automation, sustainable flexible production, polymer micro- and nano-replication, process optimization and control, with a recent emphasis on additive manufacturing and Industry 4.0 applications. In addition to pursuing and leading research, he has been very active with knowledge transfer to industry. He has been involved in over 30 national and international projects, and he won in excess of 20M EUR research grants, in which he has acted as Coordinator and/or Principal Investigator. His academic output includes more than 170 technical papers and 7 books. Robert Howlett is the Academic Chair of KES International a non-profit organisation which facilitates knowledge transfer and the dissemination of research results in areas including Intelligent Systems, Sustainability, and Knowledge Transfer. He is Visiting Professor at 'Aurel Vlaicu' University of Arad, Romania, and has also been Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University, UK. His technical expertise is in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for the solution of industrial problems. His current interests centre on the application of intelligent systems to sustainability, particularly renewable energy, smart / micro grids and applications in housing and glasshouse horticulture. He previously developed a national profile in knowledge and technology transfer, and the commercialisation of research. He works with a numberof universities and international research groups on the supervision teams of PhD students, and the provision of technical support for projects. Rossi Setchi is Professor in High-Value Manufacturing, Deputy Head of School, and a Director of Research at the School of Engineering of Cardiff University. She has a distinguished track record of research in a range of areas including AI, robotics, systems engineering, manufacturing, industrial sustainability, cyber-physical systems, and Industry 4.0 and, in particular, has built an international reputation for excellence in knowledge-based systems, computational semantics, and human–machine systems. She has published over 220 peer-reviewed papers. She is Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Fellow of the British Computer Society, and Senior Member of IEEE. She is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Systems Science and IEEE Access and Member of the Editorial Board of a number of international journals.
