The 12th Inter University Conference of Students, PhD Students and Young Scientists “Engineer of XXI Century” was held at University of Bielsko-Biała on 9th December 2022. The conference was officially opened by the Rector prof. Jacek Nowakowski and the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering prof. Jacek Pezda.

The conference was held under the Honorary Patronage of the Minister of Education and Science and was co-financed by the state budget with the amount of PLN 54,010 (total project value PLN 60,110) as part of the Excellent Science – Support for scientific conferences programme, project number DNK/SP/550674/2022 .

The conference submitted 140 papers and presentations (65 from home and 75 from abroad). 118 papers received positive reviews and were accepted for publication in post-conference monographs and poster session presentations. The papers were published in five thematic monographs:

• Designing, Researches and Exploitation (DOI: https://doi.org/10.53052/9788366249974),
• Technologies, processes and systems of manufacturing (DOI: https://doi.org/10.53052/9788366249981),
• Transport (DOI: https://doi.org/10.53052/9788366249998),
• Processing, transmission and security of information (DOI: https://doi.org/10.53052/9788367652001),
• Innovations for Big Data in a Real World (DOI: https://doi.org/10.53052/9788367652018).

Lectures, workshops and training sessions held throughout the conference took place in several rooms simultaneously, and in the foyer conference participants presented their work in a poster session. Demonstrations by companies supporting the “Engineer of XXI Century” Inter-disciplinary Student Research Group were also running simultaneously. Those who were unable to attend the conference directly were able to observe the proceedings as part of an online broadcast, via the university’s websites and social networks. The main theme of the conference was the broadly defined idea of Industry 4.0. Speakers prepared presentations from such areas as design, exploitation manufacturing technologies, 3D printing, mechatronics, automation and robotics, storage and logistics, the Internet of Things and Big Data. Participants also had the opportunity to learn about the legal basics related to the process of preparing a patent application.

The titles of some of the 19 lectures delivered by the conference guests for further information/presentations please visit our website):

• Lighter and safer – selected aspects of modern car material design – Prof Adam Grajcar, Silesian University of Technology,
• Simplification of Deep Learning Technology – Ruben Ferraz, Cognex,
• Digital twin: strategy to improve process/product capabilities in sheet metal forming – Prof. Antonio Del Prete, University del Salento,
• Radial Hydrodynamic Journal Bearings and Nonlinear Vibration Phenomena In Tilting Pad Bearings – Prof. Pavel Polach, Research and Testing Institute Plzen.

During the 12th Inter University Conference of Students, PhD Students and Young Scientists “Engineer of XXI Century” conference, as in previous editions, competitions were held in two categories: for the best presentation (the verdict is given by the Conference Scientific Committee) and for the best paper (the assessment is made by the Dean of the Faculty). This year, an additional category was introduced: High School, during which papers by students from secondary schools participating in the conference were awarded. The list of awarded works is presented in the table below. We would like to congratulate all participants and winners on the high level of the submitted papers and presentations.