LogisticsCon of LIHH with the Young Professionals’ Award Logistics

The Logistics Convention (LogisticsCon) of the Logistics Initiative Hamburg (LIHH) concluded after two days of high-profile programming with the closing event Science Pitch Logistics. Sandra Rudeloff from Kühne Logistics University secured the Young Researcher Award of LIHH, endowed with 2,500 euros. Over 100 attendees from business and academia registered to follow the live event online. The Young Professionals’ Award was presented for the 11th time.

“Logistics is and remains one of the major future industries in Germany. This became particularly evident during the pandemic. The Young Professionals’ Award Logistics (YPAL) challenges and promotes outstanding young talents that the logistics industry urgently needs to tackle future challenges in the age of AI and BOTS,” said Dr. Joachim Matthies, chairman of the jury and board member of FILog Society for Innovation in Logistics and Transport e.V., during his speech for the winner of this year’s Young Professionals’ Award Logistics (YPAL). FILog, like the Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg, is an official partner of YPAL 2021.

The patron of the award, Katharina Fegebank, Second Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and Senator of the Ministry for Science, Research and Equality, also emphasized in her greeting that it is important to provide impulses for the practice of logistics and port industry from science. The metropolitan region of Hamburg has over 50 chairs with logistics-related focus, and with the YPAL, the innovation transfer between logistics industry and science is promoted.

Grand Closing Event

The Science Pitch Logistics took place as a grand closing event of LogisticsCon2021. In the two-day networking format under the motto Content connects Community, high-profile speakers provided the over 300 participants with exciting insights into the areas of port, supply chains, intra- and contract logistics, marketing, sustainability, and human resources in a varied lecture program. “Content connects our logistics community, and the LogisticsCon has interactively engaged with the current challenges and developments in the industry,” said Prof. Dr. Peer Witten, chairman of the board of the Logistics Initiative Hamburg e.V., in his conclusion on the premiere of the event format.

Questions from participants regarding the future of the logistics and port location Hamburg were answered on the second day by Senator Michael Westhagemann in a virtual town hall meeting. A digital innovation port represents an important part of Hamburg’s future strategy, according to Westhagemann. Research from Fraunhofer CML in Hamburg could provide answers to important questions regarding autonomous shipping. Together with other application fields of autonomous vehicles like drones or buses, these are central points of Hamburg’s ITS strategy and are pioneering for the positive development of the logistics location Hamburg.

Digitalization as a Great Opportunity

The winner of YPAL 2021 also sees a great opportunity in digitalization. Rudeloff’s research focuses on broad data sharing among all participants in the supply chain. In the closing discussion of the Science Pitch, she encouraged companies to overcome reservations about sharing relevant data with research and partners.

The closing discussion was preceded by three exciting pitches from the finalists Justus Bonz, University of Hamburg, Christopher Gaede, Kühne Logistics University (KLU), and the later winner Sandra Rudeloff, also from KLU. In her pitch, she outlined how the increasing complexity of trade networks raises the risk of widespread contamination of food. In her master’s thesis, she demonstrates how traceback models can help identify the source of foodborne illnesses based on data about imports into the United States. The KLU graduate, supervised by Prof. Dr. Hanno Friedrich, continues her research on this topic as part of her doctoral studies.

Highly Interesting Approaches for Practice

The work of the other two finalists, Justus Bonz (research on reducing the peak load of a fleet of electric freight trains, co-authored with Prof. Dr. Knut Haase) and Christopher Gaede (master’s thesis on forecasting temperature trends in refrigerated containers during a cooling unit failure, supervised by Prof. Dr. André Ludwig), also received high recognition from the jury and the audience.

Overall, all three final projects presented highly interesting approaches for practice. This was a key criterion in the selection of finalists by the interdisciplinary expert jury of YPAL, which this year consisted of Dr. Joachim Matthies (FILog), Kerstin Wendt-Heinrich (TOP Mehrwert-Logistik), Ralf Struckmeier (Lufthansa Industry Solutions), and Otto Klemke (NautilusLog).

About the Young Professionals’ Award Logistics

The Young Professionals’ Award Logistics awards 2,500 euros for a thesis or research project that addresses logistics-related issues. This can be written independently or in cooperation with a company.

An expert jury from business and science consisting of Dr. Joachim Matthies, board member of FILog Society for Innovation in Logistics and Transport e.V., Kerstin Wendt-Heinrich, managing director of TOP Mehrwert-Logistik GmbH & Co. KG, Ralf Struckmeier, Vice President of Lufthansa Industry Solutions, and Otto Klemke, CEO and founder of NautilusLog, evaluates the submitted works. A prerequisite is that the university or company is located within the metropolitan region of Hamburg.

The aim is to highlight the research expertise and collaboration between science and business at the logistics location Hamburg and to promote and strengthen activities in this context. The Logistics Initiative Hamburg aims to encourage young people to engage particularly in their studies and thesis. FILog, like the Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg, is an official partner of YPAL 2021.

Photo: © Logistics Initiative Hamburg, Jan Brandes / Caption: The finalists of Science Pitch Logistics 2021; from left to right: Christopher Gaede, Sandra Rudeloff, Justus Bonz