In the course of evolution biological systems have developed cognitive and intelligent abilities which are more efficient and powerful than today’s technical systems. Seeing, hearing, the tactile perception as well as localisation in and exploration of spatial environments are some examples which underline the cognitive abilities. The process of human decision-making is another important example of the power of cognitive systems. We try to understand these abilities, to formalize and to map them into theoretical approaches and to transfer them into technical and intelligent systems. The resultant systems combine low level cognitive abilities like pattern recognition with higher level cognitive capacities like knowledge representation and reasoning. Our research includes further developments in theories of soft computing concerning automated learning, processing and representation of uncertain knowledge (Dempster-Shafer Theory, etc.). Further points of research are the development of adaptive and parallel inference processes which are based on the principle of information gain. In addition we investigate and model the fusion of multisensory information, numerosity, SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping), attentional processes, and deep learning. Application areas are bio inspired systems, assistive systems for elderly people and autonomous deep space navigation.