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On the last stop of his tour through the German AI competence centers, Mario Brandenburg, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), visited the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Dortmund on 19 July. Together with Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW), he received an overview of the Lamarr Institute's diverse research and educational projects as well as its innovative AI applications for business and society.
The research results of the Lamarr Institute show possible applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in practice and are already being used in companies today. The institute is supported by TU Dortmund University, University of Bonn and Fraunhofer Institutes for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems (IAIS) in Sankt Augustin and for Material Flow and Logistics (IML) in Dortmund. It is institutionally funded by the BMBF and the state of NRW as part of the German government's AI strategy.
During a live demonstration of, among other things, a high-speed robot for sorting and distribution processes, State Secretary Brandenburg and State Secretary Türkeli-Dehnert were able to experience AI in intralogistics first-hand. "With its unique combination of basic and application-oriented cutting-edge research on machine learning and artificial intelligence, the Lamarr Institute is already successfully laying the foundation for smart technologies - including for industry and start-ups," said Prof. Michael ten Hompel, Lamarr Director as well as Professor of Materials Handling and Warehousing at TU Dortmund University and Director of Fraunhofer IML. "To make the AI innovations of the local science competitive on the international market, there is now also a need for significant investments and by German companies."
AI for society
"Triangulated AI" is the central research paradigm of the Lamarr Institute and stands for powerful, sustainable and ethically responsible Artificial Intelligence. The new AI generation is expected to use not only data, but also additional knowledge and contextual information. During a tour, experienced scientists* as well as dedicated young researchers presented highlights from their research: a label system for the transparent presentation of the resource consumption of AI models, the recently crowned world champions in robot soccer as well as possible applications of AI in quantum computing and in manufacturing processes of Industry 4.0.
In addition, Mario Brandenburg and Gonca Türkeli-Dehnert provided insights into research on AI-based large language models. "We are pleased that large language models from the Lamarr Institute are already in productive use, including in auditing and in the medical field," emphasized Prof. Stefan Wrobel, Lamarr director, professor at the University of Bonn and head of Fraunhofer IAIS. "At the same time, we are already working on the next generation of generative AI in the context of OpenGPT-X and WestAI."
Machine learning in schools
Teaching and education and training are other central components of the Lamarr Institute's work. Therefore, researchers are actively engaged in educational initiatives, which were also presented during the visit of the state secretaries*. "Sustained excellence in artificial intelligence research is only possible if we ensure the excellent education of the next generation of highly qualified researchers," said Prof. Christian Bauckhage, Lamarr director as well as professor at the University of Bonn and researcher at Fraunhofer IAIS. "In addition to continuing education programs for industry and degree programs that focus on AI early on, Lamarr Institute experts* are therefore actively engaged in educational initiatives, such as Roberta and AI4Schools, to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning into schools."