KIRIA – AI and robotics in the workplace

KIRIA aims to impart digital competencies and practical skills in the field of AI to employees from the manufacturing industry.
Project duration: 01.02.2025 – 31.01.2027

As part of the ESF project KIRIA, the Robokind Foundation is supporting the integration of artificial intelligence and robotics in SMEs and vocational schools in Lower Saxony. Employees are prepared for the technologies of tomorrow in a practice-oriented qualification format. The aim is to qualify specialists as “AI ambassadors” and to develop innovative automation, for example application possibilities from machine vision to (robot-assisted) automation. The Open AI Lab offers companies and schools the opportunity to experience AI directly and try it out in practice. Further information can be found in the KIRIA press release and on our project website https://kiria.eu/. Companies in Lower Saxony can participate free of charge and register here. If you have any questions, please contact our project manager, your contact person in the KIRIA project is project manager Mr. Leif Griga.

The KIRIA project is supported by EU, state and regional funds.

The KIRIA project is financed within the framework of the guideline on the granting of grants to support regional skilled labor alliances by promoting skilled labor projects for the region (“Support for regional skilled labor alliances”) – structural projects.

Advisory board of the KIRIA project

The project will be strategically supported by a high-caliber advisory board. Dr. Oliver Brandt is expected to chair the KIRIA project advisory board. All other members of the advisory board of the TROIA model project in alphabetical order:

---

Dr. Oliver Brandt, born in 1976, studied geography with a focus on economic geography at Leibniz Universität Hannover (LUH) and the University of Pretoria. As a research assistant at the CAU Kiel, the LUH and the NIW, he devoted himself in particular to regional labor market research. At the end of 2008, he joined Süderelbe AG, a PPP model for regional economic development, as a project manager. Since 2017, he has been involved in employment-promoting projects of the Hannover Region Economic Development Agency, focusing on social innovation and the transition from school to work. Since March 2019, he has been team leader for employment promotion in the Hannover Region. The “TROIA model project” is a focus of the Hannover Region’s robotics activities.

---

As a digitalization consultant, Uwe Brehl supports skilled trades companies with a wide range of digital transformation issues. The focus of his work in individual business consulting is on online personnel recruiting and software selection. In the event series “Digitalization in the skilled trades”, which he initiated, he presents new technologies and tools and thus provides digital answers to the shortage of skilled workers. He also supports various digitalization transfer projects on topics such as exoskeletons, AI, cobots, etc. and demonstrates practical application scenarios for the skilled trades.

---

Tilman Diepholz-Seeger is Head of Department 44 at the Lower Saxony Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. Among other things, he is responsible for industrial-technical vocational training at vocational schools. He studied mechanical engineering and politics at the University of Hanover and has since been particularly committed to innovation in industrial-technical vocational education and training in various roles at vocational schools and state authorities. In his last position as principal of the Werner-von-Siemens School in Hildesheim, he implemented a robotics center (digitalization master plan), among other things. The development of new forms of learning and the implementation of structures and technologies are particularly close to his heart.

---

“My motivation to work in the trade union sector is, in particular, to strengthen co-determination in companies and collective agreements. I am particularly interested in shaping education as a lifelong task from elementary school to further vocational training. Integrating the new key technologies of robotics and AI into vocational education and training plays a fundamental role in this.”

Waleria Nichelmann studied political science at the University of Marburg and European governance at the University of Osnabrück. She then worked for the German Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE) as a trade union secretary in Hamburg, Hanover and Oldenburg. Her work at the DGB focuses on cooperation with voluntary bodies. In her other areas of responsibility, she looks after the Schaumburg district association and the Hanover region as well as active senior citizens.

---

Stephan Grenz, Dipl.-Verwaltungswirt (FH), was, among other things, business development manager in the district of Goslar for 11 years before moving to the Leine-Weser Regional Development Office in Hildesheim in 2015. There he is the contact person for projects in the fields of business and science. He also focuses on business-related projects for local authorities and other stakeholders. Since 2024, he has also been coordinating the Leine-Weser Regional Skilled Workers Alliance and is also represented on the advisory board in this role.

---

Hanna Sander-Böving has been project coordinator for the topic area “Digital change in the world of work” in the Hannover Region’s Department of Economic Development and Employment Promotion since August 2020. One focus of her work is the supervision of robotics education activities, which have been a central field of action for the Hannover Region for years. She also initiates and supports projects to promote young STEM talent and digitalization in vocational training.

---

Mr. Spieker works at the Lower Saxony Ministry for Social Affairs, Labour, Health and Equality, Department 5 – Labour, Migration and Integration, Deputy Head of Division 503 – Labour and Employment Promotion, Vocational Qualification.

---

Irene Stroot is an expert in the field of continuing education and innovative approaches to learning in companies in the context of transformation. She has 15 years of experience in management consultancy with a social partnership focus, five years in the management of the Demography Agency and later at the Lower Saxony Transformation Agency. As a qualified educationalist, she supports companies and employees in designing good further training in the company. Her particular expertise lies in how employees, managers and employers can pull together.

---

Torsten Temmeyer has been an IHK Vocational Training Officer at the Hanover Chamber of Industry and Commerce since 2004. His activities focus on securing skilled workers and promoting young talent in the field of international education, in particular the development and initiation of EU projects. Mr. Temmeyer is also responsible for the management of IHK training marketing and the promotion of young talent in the STEM sector, including the introduction of an IHK certificate course in robotics (launch in October 2017).

---

Jan Velbinger studied to become a teacher at vocational schools (color technology and interior design as well as chemistry) and has been working in the teaching profession in Lower Saxony since 2000. During several years at the Lower Saxony State Office for School Quality Development (NLQ), he was primarily involved in curriculum development and teacher training. Since 2022, he has been working at the Lower Saxony Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs in Department 44, where he focuses on topics in the field of industrial-technical vocational education and training, with a particular focus on issues and effects of digital transformation.

---

KIRIA reports (German)

KIRIA news and reports on the Internet (German):
KIRIA Meldung auf der Seite der Robotics City Hannover, 17.2.2025
KIRIA Meldung auf der Seite der IHK Hannover, 24.2.2025
KIRIA Projektvorstellung auf Seite der Robotics City Hannover, 19.2.2025
KIRIA Meldung auf der Seite von Niedersachsen.next, 27.3.2025
KIRIA Vortrag auf der Hannover Messe, 4.4.2025

KIRIA contributions from Robokind (German):
KIRIA Pressemitteilung (PDF-Format) der Robokind Stiftung zum Start des Projektes, 14.2.2025
KIRIA LinkedIn Post der Robokind Stiftung, 14.2.2025