2009 Award Winners
Innovative computer networks in the development and production sector
Special Prize Winner Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nikolaus Kappen
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nikolaus Kappen was awarded the Steinbeis Foundation’s Transfer Prize – the Löhn Prize as a special award – for his outstanding achievements as head of the Steinbeis Transfer Centre for Computer Applications.
Nikolaus Kappen studied electrical engineering at the University of Stuttgart. He subsequently obtained his doctorate there at the Institute for Control Engineering. Nikolaus Kappen began his professional career at AEG Telefunken in Frankfurt am Main as head of the Production Automation department. He served as Vice-Dean at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences, as well as Programme Director for Technical Computer Science, and held the position of Head of the Embedded Systems Laboratory.
As early as 1986, Nikolaus Kappen founded the Steinbeis Transfer Centre for Computer Applications at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences. Since then, the centre, with its numerous staff, has been extremely successful in supporting clients from the automotive manufacturing sector and their suppliers in the greater Stuttgart area. These clients have benefited from Nikolaus Kappen’s many years of experience in the design and management of heterogeneous computer networks in the development and production sectors, as well as in software development within a technical context, ranging from microcontroller applications to virtual 3D system simulation.
Nikolaus Kappen was also actively involved in the development of tools for the network maintenance of automotive test benches and developed simulation systems for in-vehicle MMI applications (navigation, communication, audio, video, etc.).
His outstanding contributions to the Steinbeis network, as well as his commitment as a university professor, make him a worthy recipient of this honour.