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WiCAM Foundation awards 15 scholarships

In 1984, a young man named Harald Wilkesmann (founder of WiCAM GmbH) was working the night shift at a CNC punching machine to earn money for his mechanical engineering studies. Night after night he was annoyed by the time-consuming calculation and input of coordinates. Today you would say he felt like a human being who could easily be replaced by a computer.

Fascinated by the possibilities of CNC technology and the emerging digitalisation in industry, he began to develop algorithms and founded what is now WiCAM GmbH in the mid-80s.

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After more than 35 years, WiCAM’s PN4000 programming system has become the linchpin for automated production around the globe in all well-known corporations such as Siemens, Liebherr, Krones and co.

After a short illness, Mr Wilkesmann passed away in 2017 – with his death, he decreed that part of the future income should flow into a charitable foundation to promote Germany as a software location, especially Karlsruhe in the area of research and development.

With the start of this year’s semester, the WiCAM Foundation decided to award 15 scholarships in the field of mathematics and computer science.

With this step, the WiCAM Foundation is the largest scholarship provider of the KIT in Karlsruhe.

The awarding of the scholarships on 03 November was taken over by the two foundation directors Mrs Fix-Neuhäuser (left), Mr Ralf Deininger (middle) and Mr Timo Eigenblut (right), managing director of the WiCAM group of companies.

KIT is primarily concerned with the global challenges facing humanity. With the help of students, significant contributions are to be made in the fields of energy, mobility and information.