Prof. Dr. -Ing. Habil. Thomas Rauschenbach is spokesman of the Fraunhofer Water Systems Alliance. In this function he represents the interests of the 9 Fraunhofer institutes involved in water research. At the Fraunhofer IOSB, he heads the Advanced Systems Engineering (AST) branch of the institute. Here, he is responsible for two departments with engineers, computer scientists and technicians. They work towards new methods and processes for the optimal use of complex cybernetic systems and translate them into innovative operation control applications for various purposes like cross-sectoral energy systems and water supply. In over 15 years Prof. Rauschenbach has acquired and conducted numerous industry and publicly funded applied research projects and has built an extensive national and international network across various industries.