Aida Boukhris

Aida Boukhris was a research associate and doctoral student at the chair of Information Systems – Innovation & Value Creation at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). Her research is focused on the development of new integrated services that rely on technologies such as networked sensors and cloud platforms within the context of the Internet of Things. She explores new methods to reduce the complexity of development and integrate novice users into the design process. Such users range from hobbyists that embody the maker movement to intrapreneurs evolving in manufacturing companies. Prior to her doctoral studies, Aida Boukhris has graduated from the National School of Engineers of Tunis, Tunisia, in electrical engineering and worked as an embedded systems engineer for two years and a half within a development lab in Tunis. She has then pursued a master’s degree in Innovation Management, completed with a thesis at the Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy (Fraunhofer IMW) in Leipzig, Germany. Currently, she is involved in projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The first is called SmartDiF and is about developing new tools and methods for building fact-based services within the manufacturing and logistics contexts. The second project, MEgA, aims to develop a comprehensive concept for promoting health-related measures in an increasingly digitalized workplace. Aida Boukhris, was also responsible for a Horizon 2020 project at FAU called STARTIFY7. It consisted of organizing thematic summer academies for young future ICT entrepreneurs to provide them with hands-on entrepreneurship training within a multi-stakeholder environment. In addition to her research, she delivers and assists lectures at the university about innovation design, leadership and strategies as well as Platform Strategies. She has also been recently assigned to coordinate a new executive education programme launched by FAU called “Leading Digital Transformation”, designed to support companies building innovative business models using technological advances such as IoT and Big Data. This programme is developed and offered in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute of Integrated Circuits (Fraunhofer IIS) and the Indian Institute of Management of Bangalore (IIMB).
When she is not researching, Aida enjoys learning new languages, travelling, good food, tinkering and mingling with makers and entrepreneurs.