September 28, 2020

Exchange and knowledge transfer on the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) were the focus of the Intelligent Future Days 2020, a three-day event co-organized by the ML2R Competence Center, which brought together more than 250 participants from research, business and politics. 14 experts from various fields of science and application provided insights into the state of research, development and implementation of AI in lectures, discussion panels and workshops. Some highlights of the event are now available as video recordings.

The three-day online event Intelligent Future Days (IFD) offered a wide-ranging program of lectures, discussions and workshops, which was aimed at interested parties from business, politics and society as well as researchers. For the first time, the IFD brought together two events: the »KI-Forum NRW«, the annual conference of the North Rhine-Westphalian competence platform KI.NRW and the »LWDA«, one of the most important German conferences for Machine Learning.

With more than 250 participants and 14 speakers from research, business and politics, the premiere event in hybrid format was a great success. The central anchor point of the event was a livestream embedded in an online platform that gave participants access to lectures and discussions. A chat and messaging function of the platform invited speakers and participants to contact each other, ask questions and network. The members of the discussion panels met, while observing the necessary distance rules, in part on site at Schloss Birlinghoven, the location of Fraunhofer IAIS.

KI-Forum NRW: AI from the perspective of science, industry and politics

Prof. Dr. Stefan Wrobel, spokesperson of ML2R, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Bonn and director of the Fraunhofer IAIS Institute, kicked off the event with his keynote speech »Artificial Intelligence: Jointly using opportunities!«. The opening lecture gave an insight into the current state of research and development and presented examples of AI applications that are already contributing to value creation in companies today.

Participants in the subsequent panel discussion on the topic »Introducing AI: Why is now the right time?« were Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Minister of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Prof. Dr. Katharina Morik, spokesperson of ML2R and Professor of Computer Science at the TU Dortmund University, and Thomas Meyer, President of the North Rhine-Westphalian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The three discussion participants brought in different perspectives: the political framework conditions in NRW, research results and their possible applications and finally acceptance and concerns from the perspective of the economy.

Keynote, discussion and the subsequent question & answer session can be viewed in this video.

On the second day of the event, two entrepreneurs shared their practical experiences in the lecture »Tips for AI introduction«. Using two practical examples, the speakers explained how small and medium-sized companies successfully use AI solutions, how important it is to involve employees and how the technology facilitates customer-specific production.

Law meets technology: Value-oriented AI design

Questions of law and ethics were the subject of the lecture »Value-oriented AI design« by Prof. Dr. Dr. Frauke Rostalski, Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Cologne and member of the German Ethics Council. The legal scholar’s lecture focused on the questions of what opportunities and risks characterize the digital age and how the use of Artificial Intelligence can be aligned with European values and the rights of the individual.

The lectures and question & answer sessions of the second day are recorded in this video.

LWDA Research Conference: Learning, Knowledge, Data, Analysis

The conference »Learning, Knowledge, Data, Analysis (LWDA)«, one of the most important German research conferences focusing on Machine Learning, Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge and Database Management and Information Systems, took place parallel to the AI Forum NRW. Internationally renowned scientists as well as researchers from NRW, especially from the ML2R competence center, were invited to the lectures, discussions, workshops and poster sessions.

The Intelligent Future Days were organized by the competence platform KI.NRW, the Competence Center Machine Learning Rhine-Ruhr ML2R, the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS and the University of Bonn.