iDIP Wins Recognition Award from the Futur Foundation

On June 11, 2026, the Futur Foundation honored three outstanding research projects from OST – University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Switzerland. The recognition award went to the project “Gen-AI for Production Digitization,” in which iDIP played a key role as an industry partner.

Digitization via Prompt Instead of a Complex MES Project

Swiss SMEs in the manufacturing sector are facing increasing cost pressures and would actually need to rely on digital solutions such as a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) to remain competitive. In practice, however, many companies fail due to long implementation times, high costs, and a lack of IT expertise.

This is precisely where the award-winning project comes in. It was carried out under the direction of Dr. Sarah Ekanayake (IPEK – Institute for Product Development, Industrial Engineering & PLM) in collaboration with the OST Interdisciplinary Center for Artificial Intelligence, the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen (ITEM-HSG), and iDIP as an industry partner. At its core is a two-stage AI solution within the iDIP system: A consulting bot translates production requirements into technical specifications, and a coding bot uses these to generate directly customizable system changes. This enables even those without programming knowledge to independently drive digitalization projects forward.

This pragmatic approach is proving effective: It reduces implementation costs for SMEs by 30 to 40 percent.

Great joy at iDIP

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Futur Foundation for this recognition and are happy to pass on the praise to our entire team! We are particularly pleased that our approach to simple and pragmatic digitization using generative AI is being recognized in this way. A big thank you goes to our research partners IPEK, OST Interdisciplinary Center for Artificial Intelligence, and ITEM-HSG for their excellent collaboration on this project.

👉 Read more about the Futur Foundation’s award ceremony in this article by LEADER Digital: OST Research Honored