Engineering and IT - a successful dream team: Interview with invenio Virtual Technologies GmbH

invenio Virtual Technologies GmbH is a leading provider of digital product development and digital mock-ups (DMU) and was awarded the Bavarian SME Award last year. In an interview with Managing Director Hermann Gaigl, we found out why the hidden champion is now striving for greater visibility.

Servus Hermann, thank you for taking the time to talk to us about topics such as AI and digital transformation. You are Managing Director of invenio Virtual Technologies (VT) GmbH, and you are market leaders with your technology. How did this come about? And what should everyone know about VT?

Hermann Gaigl: My vision has always been to unite the two worlds of "engineering" and "IT" in one company - I was able to work in both areas for a long time and saw over 20 years ago that they belong together.
We started developing VT-DMU (Digital Mock-Up), a modular software toolkit that can be flexibly adapted to individual customer requirements. The key point is that it is not the software that determines how the customer has to work, but the customer's process that determines what the solution looks like. When we started out, I was often ridiculed. Today, our idea is called BizDevOps and we are convincing more and more users.

You have been active in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) for almost ten years now. ChatGPT has made AI socially acceptable for many. Your solution goes in a different direction, as it is much more specifically geared towards a use case with DMU. What will AI change for customers? Where will it help specifically?

Hermann Gaigl: To be honest, we only started with AI because we saw the massive growth in data as a potential risk. Yes, DMU is a very specific use case, but that's not a problem. It is even an advantage if you focus on a clear use case when developing AI. The problem for us was that there is no training data online. ChatGPT, on the other hand, has the advantage that the internet serves as a database.

You took part in our transform.by workshop, where we developed a vision for the future of the vehicle and supplier industry in Bavaria up to 2035. What were your key findings? What do you think are the prerequisites for a successful digital transformation in this sector? What is needed?

Hermann Gaigl: I sensed an incredible dynamic in the transform.by workshop. I was impressed by the fact that the workshop brought together many different participants from companies and organizations who had never met before. Despite this, everyone worked together with commitment and achieved a great result on schedule. A method that was new to me. The transformation in the vehicle and supplier industry is still a long and rocky road. The issues that need to be worked on are well known.
If you ask me what the criteria for success are: Everyone who works in the industry has to get stuck in - with passion and commitment. We need to focus on our values and work together fairly. Then it will work.

You were awarded the Bavarian SME Award for your AI in 2023. As a hidden champion, you are currently working on becoming more visible. Why did you decide to do this and what do you hope to gain from it?

Hermann Gaigl: We are delighted to have received the award. It is a great honor and great recognition of the tremendous work of all our employees. Being a Hidden Champion is basically a great success. But there is also a downside: when we want to win a new customer, for example, it is very difficult to convince them of our merits. Because they don't know us, many are initially reluctant, some are even suspicious. Some then prefer to buy the software from a large, well-known software manufacturer, even though their solution can't even come close to ours. In this respect, we are currently working intensively on our visibility and reach.

Will it be possible to imagine school lessons without AI in a few years' time? Where do you see the advantages and disadvantages of integrating artificial intelligence more and more into everyone's everyday life?

Hermann Gaigl: Artificial intelligence will take up more and more space and will definitely be an integral part of school lessons. AI can support us enormously, for example in writing texts, creating images or in special subject disciplines. The technology is available and it doesn't help to refuse or ban it. We should deal with it openly and learn to master artificial intelligence and use it to our advantage.  I clearly see the disadvantages in the fact that AI can also be used for criminal activities. We all need to prepare for this accordingly.

Thank you for your interesting insights and good luck with your technology.

Note:
Hermann Gaigl will also be a guest speaker at our online event series on transformation on 27.02.2024 with the topic "Benefits and possible uses of Chat GPT for SMEs" and will provide assistance on how companies can make AI usable.