In mid-June, the Digitalisation Working Group of the Federation of Austrian Industries in Carinthia met with researchers at the University of Klagenfurt for an AI deep dive.

At the invitation of Clemens Heuberger, Dean of the Faculty of Technical Sciences, and Dunja Pucher, Industry Relations Manager at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, digitalisation experts from more than ten medium-sized and large Carinthian industrial companies, as well as industry-related service providers, gained valuable insights into current areas of research and application in artificial intelligence.
Starting proceedings, Dean Heuberger introduced the Faculty of Technical Sciences and gave an overview of its key research and work priorities, as well as its degree programmes.
This was followed by three keynote talks on the topic of AI:

• Gerhard Friedrich, Head of the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity and member of the Board of Directors of the Cluster of Excellence BilateralAI, explained different approaches in AI research and contrasted symbolic methods with neural networks.
• Konstantin Schekotihin, also from the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity, focused on the industrial fields of application for generative AI models and presented specific practical use cases.
• Finally, Gerhard Friedrich presented “CheckMate”, an approach developed in Klagenfurt that combines different AI methods to solve complex tasks automatically. The approach stands out for its significantly improved runtimes across several problem areas, highlighting its potential for industrial applications.

The three talks made it clear that implementing AI methods requires a careful choice of suitable approaches and a nuanced understanding of the application context. In practice, this is more complex than is often assumed.
The many questions and lively discussion reflected the participants’ strong interest in practical AI applications, current developments in research, and their relevance for companies. At the same time, the exchange highlighted opportunities for closer cooperation between academia and industry.
The Digitalisation Working Group of the Federation of Austrian Industries, led by Andrea Tanner and Carmen Kilzer-Ounitsch, addresses current topics in the digital transformation of industry. It serves as a platform for sharing experience and information, networking member companies, and developing joint strategies and initiatives to strengthen Carinthia as an industrial location.
Der Beitrag Applying AI research in real-world settings erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.