Global science network at TUM Campus Heilbronn

The world was a guest at TUM Campus Heilbronn: In the middle of November, researchers from the excellence universities of Stanford, Oxford, ETH Zurich, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the two universities from Singapore (National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University) celebrated their premiere, as did the Canadian representatives from the University of Waterloo, met at the TUM Global Technology Forum in the buildings of the ‘Bildungscampus’ in Heilbronn. The scientists were able to exchange ideas and research results on a wide range of topics such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) or quantum computing.

Prof. Ali Sunyaev, Vice President of TUM Campus Heilbronn, warmly welcomed the assembled scientists: “It's great to have you all here. At TUM Campus Heilbronn, management and computer science are combined in a unique way. Take this chance; join forces and take research to the next level.” For three days, Prof. Helmut Krcmar led a multitude of keynote lectures, with a unifying element of AI connecting the individual talks. Here are some key takeaways from the sessions:

• AI can be a real game-changer in the development of drugs and the decoding of the human genome.
• Sustainability is the key to the future: in business processes and the use of natural resources, AI can help to act efficiently and improve results.
• Voice cloning is developing into a strategically valuable marketing tool. Rare languages can be decoded and preserved using algorithms.
• The future of software engineering lies in human-centered AI collaboration.
• AI can spread conspiracy theories, but it can also help us identify them.
• Also in the hardware market, AI is here to stay. However, bandwidth and latency time remain a challenge.
• Mentors are experienced, take a structured approach and point out new courses of action – AI can take over some of these tasks.
• AI has also long since found its way into medicine. Doctors must be able to understand and apply it without giving up their freedom of decision.

To sum it up: AI has long since entered the most diverse areas of life and it is no longer possible to imagine life without it. Now it is important to seize the opportunities it offers and overcome initial reservations. Or as Prof. Helmut Krcmar from TUM Campus Heilbronn puts it: “After people have used an AI tool for the first time, their trust often increases rapidly.”

The TUM Global Technology Forum has established itself as a ‘knowledge marketplace’ and will continue next year, because AI is not the only thing that has come to stay.