Artificial intelligence finds a home
Science and industry come together to research and develop intelligent systems in the Stuttgart-Tübingen region
About
Cyber Valley is bringing together international key players from science and industry to concentrate their research activities in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Supported through the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Cyber Valley partners will establish new research groups and professorships in the fields of machine learning, robotics, and computer vision in a new research center in the Stuttgart-Tübingen area in Germany. A key element of the project will be the training of up to 100 doctoral students.
Cyber Valley will create a stimulating ecosystem for technology transfer in the field of Artificial Intelligence through a new model of cooperation between science and industry. After all, when it comes to the development of intelligent systems, the path from basic research to commercialisation is often very short. Startups that originate in the research environment are the engines of this development. The promotion of these startups calls for the close dovetailing of science and industry.
Cyber Valley
Cyber Valley – artificial intelligence finds a home
Computers work at lightning speed and store more knowledge than any brain can. But when it comes to solving a task for which they are not specifically programmed, they soon reach their limits. Thus, even a beetle can find its bearings better in an unknown environment than a robot can.
Computers, however, are catching up. Since machines have been able to learn and thus have developed artificial intelligence, there have been systems that can reliably analyze images or speech and capture useful information for science and industry from large quantities of data.
And intelligent systems will be important in more and more areas of life: they could drive us as autonomous cars, help us out in the home on a daily basis; carry out emergency operations which are too dangerous for human, or diagnose and fight diseases in medicine as tiny robots. It's not surprising that both basic research and industry around the world are working to boost the intelligence of machines and that artificial intelligence is considered as one of the key technologies for the 21st century.
There are several locations and institutions in Germany – particularly in Baden-Württemberg – where the principles and applications of intelligent systems are already being researched on an international scale. Some of these activities are now being concentrated in Cyber Valley in the Stuttgart-Tübingen area. Funded by the Land of Baden-Württemberg, this research network comprises the Tübingen and Stuttgart sites of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the University of Tübingen and the University of Stuttgart together with seven industry partners: Amazon, the BMW Group, IAV GmbH, Daimler AG, Porsche AG, Robert Bosch GmbH and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. These key partners, especially the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, will be financing Cyber Valley in the next five years with a figure in the double digit million euros range.
The aim of the cluster is to advance the research and development of intelligent systems, make this even more visible at an international level and in this way to attract the best minds in the area of artificial intelligence to Germany and the region. The research network also aims to support the training of junior scientists in this area. In addition, the partners intend to use the new model of cooperation between science and industry to create a stimulating environment for successful company startups in the area of artificial intelligence.
Intelligent systems will be important in more and more areas of life - as a virtual system in the Internet, or as a cyber-physical system in our “real” world. Artificial Intelligence will be applied in autonomous cars, as well as in diagnose and fight diseases in medicine, or for carrying out emergency operations which are too dangerous for humans.
Agenda
New Research Groups, Endowment Chairs, and an International Max Planck Research School
The aim of Cyber Valley is to boost Artificial Intelligence research and development. Intelligent systems are capable of completing the cycle of perception, understanding, action and learning. This ability, which humans and animals master as a matter of course, is vital in being able to act independently in complex and dynamic environments. The aim of the research cluster is to learn from nature and to understand the underlying regulatory and control mechanisms of perception, action and learning and to reproduce them in artificial systems.
As core elements of Cyber Valley, new research groups, professorships, and an International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) will be established, that will connect the existing research activities. The Stuttgart-Tübingen region is destined in this way to become an important centre for intelligent systems.
Through Cyber Valley, initially five Research Groups, funded by the core partners, will be established at the Max Planck Institute, and four additional Groups, financed by endowment funds, will be set up at the universities.
As further core elements of Cyber Valley, 10 new professorships, some of which will partially be financed by endowment funds, will be established at the University of Tübingen and at the University of Stuttgart.
International Max Planck Research School
The International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Intelligent Systems will start in Summer 2017. This new graduate school program will admit 100 PhD students in the next years.
A thriving environment for startups
The declared goal of the cluster is to be able to quickly apply basic research findings, for example by supporting researchers so that they can commercialise their findings in startups themselves.
When it comes to the development of intelligent systems, the path from basic research to commercialisation is often very short. Startups that originate in the research environment are the engines of this development.
The partners intend to use the new model of cooperation between science and industry to create a similarly stimulating environment for successful company startups in the area of artificial intelligence, emulating what Stanford University has done in Silicon Valley in the area of digital technology.
The promotion of technology transfer from basic research to applied research calls for the close dovetailing of science and industry. Cyber Valley will therefore drive technology transfer, for example by supporting researchers so that they can commercialise their findings in startups themselves. The Stuttgart-Tübingen region is destined in this way to become an important centre for artificial intelligence in science and industry.
News
Top researcher appointed Bosch-endowed chair
19. June 2018
Bosch endows the chair with 5.5 million euros: Matthias Hein to research machine learning at the University of Tübingen ‒ Björn Andres, expert in artificial intelligence, appointed to Industry on Campus professorship
Bosch is bringing a top researcher in machine learning to the state of Baden-Württemberg: Professor Matthias Hein, 42, is joining the staff at the University of Tübingen thanks to a Bosch-endowed professorship that the company will provide 5.5 million euros to support over ten years as part of Cyber Valley. Hein’s research is on statistical learning for applications relating to image processing and genetics. His focus is on developing reliable and comprehensible learning processes. A case in point is the development of automated decision-making systems that apply machine learning processes to rule out any discriminatory decisions. A current example of such a decision is when a system is more inclined to approve a loan to a man than to a woman. “Such an example shows that machine learning processes can have a positive effect on society,” Hein says. “This is a goal well worth pursuing.”
Cyber Valley attracts research group leaders from around the world
25. May 2018
Research cooperation in the field of intelligent systems gains momentum
Stuttgart/Tübingen – Cyber Valley is expanding with ten new research groups that are at the forefront of research in artificial intelligence (AI). The groups receive substantial research funding and are led by top young scientists who were recruited from around the world in a highly competitive process. 'The scientists come from the best universities and research institutions in the world to accelerate their research in the Stuttgart-Tübingen region,'' says Michael Black, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and speaker of Cyber Valley.
Initiative to establish a European Lab for Learning & Intelligent Systems
24. April 2018
Warning about the competition from the USA and China - appeal to politics
Europe's leading researchers in the field of Machine Learning - Professor Bernhard Schölkopf from our Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Professor Mathias Bethge from the University of Tübingen, Professor Zoubin Ghahramani, Professor of Information Engineering from the University of Cambridge as well as researchers from the French National Research Institute for Computer Science and Automation (INRIA), the Universities of Amsterdam, ETH Zurich, Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the French elite university Ecole normale supérieure have issued a joint statement:
The scientists from Germany, France, Great Britain, Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland have called for the rapid establishment of a European research institute for machine learning. Machine learning is at the heart of a technological and social revolution of artificial intelligence in which Europe threatens to be left behind, according to the published appeal. In order to meet this challenge, the outstanding research centres in Europe would have to join forces. In view of current developments in North America and China, the initiative calls for the establishment of a European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS).
International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems starts
11. August 2017
The International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems starts with 31 Ph.D. students in the fall 2017 for a new training program.
In autumn 2017, 31 PhD Students will be joining the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS) as part of the Cyber Valley initiative. A new generation of young academics and engineers will start their careers at the IMPRS-IS. They will receive a comprehensive training program, conduct independent research and advance the field of intelligent systems.
15. Dezember 2016
Science and industry form one of Europe's largest research partnerships in artificial intelligence
Intelligent systems will shape our future: they could drive us as autonomous cars, help us out in the home on a daily basis or perform medical services as tiny robots. An initiative by the Max Planck Society and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in the Stuttgart-Tübingen area is bringing together partners from science and industry to establish Cyber Valley where systems can be developed that will be capable of performing such feats. Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, Theresia Bauer, Minister of Science in Baden-Württemberg and Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society, together with the other project participants, have launched the initiative on Thursday, 15 December 2016 in Stuttgart's Neues Schloss.
Partners
Supported by the State of Baden-Württemberg, the Cyber Valley research network comprises the Tübingen and Stuttgart sites of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, the University of Tübingen and the University of Stuttgart together with seven industry partners: Amazon, BMW Group, IAV GmbH, Daimler AG, Porsche AG, Robert Bosch GmbH and ZF Friedrichshafen AG.
