Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael ten Hompel, Co-Director of the Lamarr Institute, has been awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon. Dortmund’s mayor Thomas Westphal presented Professor ten Hompel with the Federal Republic’s highest recognition for services to the common good in Dortmund City Hall on March 22, 2023. Westphal recognized the scientist’s outstanding contribution to interdisciplinary logistics research as well as his services to strengthening the IT location Ruhr.
“Prof. ten Hompel has played a singular role in shaping Dortmund’s development as a science and technology location, far beyond his professional activities, and has left a lasting impact with his great personal commitment. As a true bridge builder, Prof. ten Hompel also promotes the important dialog between science, business and society. With a great deal of empathy and enthusiasm, he communicates complex scientific issues to citizens in an understandable way. With his excellent interdisciplinary research, he has made a significant contribution to establishing logistics as one of seven scientific fields of competence in Dortmund and also to making the Ruhr region visible internationally as a recognized center for logistics and IT,” explained Thomas Westphal, mayor of the City of Dortmund, at the award ceremony.
Pioneer of intelligent logistics
Michael ten Hompel is the Managing Director of the Fraunhofer IML and holds the Chair of Materials Flow and Warehousing at TU Dortmund University. Since 2022, ten Hompel is Co-Director of the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Numerous innovations for the sustainable application of Artificial Intelligence in logistics can be traced directly back to ten Hompel’s research. He is one of the inventors of shuttle technology in intralogistics, which recently resulted in the development of several AI-based vehicles and vehicle swarms. In addition, Michael ten Hompel is considered one of the fathers of the Internet of Things. He initiated the BMBF cluster EffizienzCluster LogistikRuhr as well as the “Silicon Economy” for a digital and socially responsible platform economy in Germany and Europe, funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport.
Professor ten Hompel is a member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering and has been a member of the international “Logistics Hall of Fame” since 2012. In 2017, he received an honorary doctorate from the Hungarian University of Miskolc, in 2018 the golden honorary pin of the Bundevereinigung Logistik, in 2019 the honorary international award of the “Hermes Verkehrs.Logistik.Preis” and in 2020 the innovation award of the state of NRW in the category “honorary award”.
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany is awarded to German and foreign citizens for political, economic-social and intellectual achievements, as well as for all special services to the Federal Republic of Germany. It is the only general award of merit in Germany and thus the highest recognition given by the Federal Republic for services to the common good. The award of the Order of Merit does not involve a financial benefit.