Full Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at
Universität Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria

Profile

Gerhard Friedrich is a full professor of computer science at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, and holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the Vienna University of Technology. A leading figure in AI research and academic administration, he combines deep expertise in automated reasoning and knowledge-based systems with sustained leadership—currently as Chair of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity and a board member of the Austrian Cluster of Excellence Bilateral AI. Before academia, he led the Configuration and Diagnostic Systems Department at Siemens Austria and held research fellowships at Siemens Corporate Research and the Stanford Research Institute. He has published extensively in top-tier journals, co-authored a Cambridge University Press book on recommender systems (translated into Japanese and Chinese), and been elected Fellow of both the European Association for Artificial Intelligence (2012) and the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (2023). His current focus is on AI that builds tailored, high-performance, industrial-scale problem solvers with formally verified solutions.

Current Positions

Gerhard Friedrich is a Full Professor of Computer Science at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria, where he heads the Intelligent Systems and Business Informatics research group. Since 2024, he has served as Chair of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Austrian Cluster of Excellence Bilateral AI. Since 2014, he has served as Vice-Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH and as an Associate Editor of AI Communications.

Research

His research spans automated generation of custom problem solvers, large-scale declarative problem-solving, recommender systems, knowledge-based systems, knowledge acquisition and maintenance, automated configuration of products and services, automated planning and scheduling, and automated diagnosis and repair.

Career

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science and a Venia Docendi from the Vienna University of Technology. From May 2013 to December 2021, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Technical Sciences at the University of Klagenfurt. Before moving into academia, he headed the Configuration and Diagnostic Systems Department at Siemens Austria, where he led the development of numerous knowledge-based industrial systems. He was also a research fellow at Siemens Corporate Research and the Stanford Research Institute.

Engineering AI Applications

During his industrial career, Friedrich translated research on knowledge-based configuration of complex technical systems into production-ready applications. Notable deployments include AI-based configuration of large telecommunications systems and railway safety and control systems. The railway configuration system for Siemens Austria has been in productive use for over 30 years. The department he founded at Siemens Austria was subsequently elevated to a central R&D unit—a recognition of the commercial and technical impact of the work. In 2003, he co-founded the university spin-off ConfigWorks, commercializing AI-based product configuration technology. Built a profitable business and sold the company to Selection Arts Intelligent Decision Techniques in 2013. His success in bringing AI research into industrial practice was further recognized with a Fellowship from the European Association for Artificial Intelligence.

Publications

Friedrich has published extensively in Artificial Intelligence, AI Magazine, IJCAI, AAAI, ECAI, Web Semantics, IEEE Intelligent Systems, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, among other leading venues. He co-authored a textbook on recommender systems, published by Cambridge University Press, which has been translated into Japanese and Chinese.

Service and Recognition

Friedrich was elected a Fellow of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence in 2012 and a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association in 2023. He served as General Chair of the 39th German Conference on Artificial Intelligence (KI 2016), Chair of PAIS 2014, and Area Chair of KR 2012. He was a Senior PC Member of ACM RecSys 2010–2012 and has served on program committees for IJCAI and the WWW Conference, among many others.

Keynotes

Friedrich has delivered keynote and invited talks at numerous international conferences. In 2015, he was the joint invited speaker at the 31st International Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP) and the 21st International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP).