La Trobe University presents 'Smart Rural Areas: A Global Success Story'

The Fraunhofer IESE, Smart Rural Cities, and the Transformation of a regional city into an R&D hub.

La Trobe University in partnership with the Fraunhofer IESE will be showcasing the global success story of Kaiserslautern (pop. 107,000), through a number of transformative initiatives that were initiated in the early nineties resulting in Kaiserslautern becoming a regional technological knowledge capital. The challenges, which were faced along the way draws parallels with the challenges we face now in Australia and our rural communities.

The Federal Government has recently laid down the guidelines for funding of its Smart Cities and Suburbs Program. Bendigo has also positioned itself as a “Smart Rural City” of the future. Fraunhofer IESE will present existing and proposed projects in this upcoming seminar.

Meet our speakers:

Prof. Dr. Dieter Rombach (Keynote Speaker)
Founder and Director of Business Development at Fraunhofer IESE


Prof. Dr. Dieter Rombach has held the Software Engineering Chair in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, since 1992.

He has authored more than 200 scientific publications broadly in the areas of "Software Engineering", received numerous awards, and serves as scientific advisor to business, industry, and government. From 1984-1991, he was Professor of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, and from 1986-1991 he was Project Manager at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

In 1990, Prof. Rombach received the "Presidential Young Investigator Award" from the National Science Foundation (USA) "in recognition of his successful work in the area of Experimental Software Engineering".


Dr. Peter Moar (FIEAust CPEng)
Director of Global Research and Industry Program and Entrepreneur in Residence in the Department of Engineering at La Trobe University


Dr Peter Moar has 18 years of experience in international technology consulting from establishing global start-up companies. These companies provide a ‘follow the sun’ solution to streamlining global fortune 500 companies operations to bring complex products from design to mass manufacture.

An unmissable afternoon of insight into Smart Rural Areas of the future and fantastic opportunity for networking with like-minded innovators.

Registrations are limited. To register, please click here.