From the punch card to software engineering
The teaching and research center at Reutlingen University in Böblingen is named after an engineer without whose inventive spirit electronic data processing would hardly be conceivable: Herman Hollerith.
The American invented a method of recording data on stamped punch cards. Hollerith thus shortened the duration of the US census from seven to two years in 1890. Hollerith's punched card method is rightly regarded as one of the key foundations for the development of electronic data processing. The resourceful engineer was also the founder of the Tabulating Machine Company, which merged into the International Business Machines Company in 1924 - better known today as IBM. IBM's German headquarters in Ehningen is just a ten-minute drive from the Herman Hollerith Center (HHZ) in Böblingen.
The talent factory for digital innovations combines research, teaching and practice. In addition to the bachelor's degree in Digital Business, the HHZ offers master's programs in Digital Business Engineering, Digital Business Management and Professional Software Engineering. The special proximity of the HHZ to the local economy gives the courses a high degree of practical relevance.
Bachelor Digital Business
Within the Faculty of Computer Science at Reutlingen University, the Bachelor's degree program in Digital Business teaches practice-oriented and scientifically sound models, methods and procedures for a first professional university degree in seven semesters. The course includes subjects from computer science, business administration and business informatics. In the higher semesters, more interdisciplinary courses are added. The practical orientation of the course is particularly evident in the practical phase and the continuous implementation of project-oriented courses throughout all semesters. The program is rounded off by compulsory electives, which offer the opportunity to specialize in a particular field. At the end of the course, students complete an independent, scientific thesis.
We shape innovations through digital technologies.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Rossmann, Director of the HHZ
Master Digital Business Engineering
Digital Business Engineering (DBE) is an IT Master's degree program for part-time training in innovative core topics of business informatics for digital companies. DBE provides strategic and technical know-how for comprehensive and pervasive digitalization. Accordingly, areas such as Service Engineering, Internet of Things and Distributed Systems are discussed. It also deals with the integration of new approaches in information technology into business-relevant strategies.
The HHZ welcomes first-semester students to the M. Sc. Digital Business Engineering program
Digital Business Management
Digital Business Management is a continuing education program for professionals. The Master of Science is dual, practice-oriented and positioned at the interface between management and IT. Digital Business Management comprises a high-quality, part-time study program on core topics of digital transformation. For professionals, the program offers extra-occupational and scientifically sound further education at the highest level. Participants build a lifelong network with peers from companies such as Accenture, Bearing-Point, Bosch, CGI, Daimler, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, IBM, Kaufland, KPMG, MHP, Microsoft, Porsche, SAP, Siemens and many more.
Doctoral programs
The doctoral students deal with issues relating to digital transformation at the interface between management and IT. The program is carried out in close scientific cooperation with a selection of doctoral universities. Doctoral students are guided and cooperatively supervised as part of an interdisciplinary research program for independent scientific work at the HHZ. The aim is to obtain a doctorate in computer science or business informatics at the cooperating university. To this end, the doctoral students receive intensive support from a team of professors. In most cases, an industry partner is also involved. Both the professors and the doctoral candidates at the HHZ are involved in numerous research projects in which important questions are investigated from the perspective of the respective industry partners using the methods of global cutting-edge research.
In addition, the HHZ also operates and supports other institutions that have set themselves the task of transferring knowledge between research and practice. In addition to the Centre for Digitalization Böblingen (ZD.BB), these institutions include the AI Lab of the Stuttgart region, the Smart City Living Lab of the Böblingen region and the Smart Lab in cooperation with Bosch and Kaufland. A mini supermarket was built especially for the Smart Lab in order to simulate shopping behavior as realistically as possible. It is probably the smallest Kaufland store in the world.
Is a university degree in computer science too theoretical? The Academy for Data Processing (ADV) offers a completely free computer science course for practitioners.
