AI for small and medium-sized enterprises
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key technology and one of the most important milestones of digitalization. The emergence of generative AI solutions such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and DALL-E has given the topic a boost. The potential applications in a wide range of industries and business areas are diverse. Companies are reaping the benefits of AI, as it can be used to save resources, increase efficiency and develop entirely new business models.
To make AI more tangible for companies, the annual “AI for SMEs” conference will take place on November 14, 2024 . The conference offers participants plenty of inspiration through specialist presentations, impressions of existing AI solutions, a panel discussion with start-ups, information on the AI Act and, among other things, a report on the introduction of artificial intelligence in companies.
The 5th edition of the “AI for SMEs” conference will provide an ideal platform for exploring the diverse opportunities offered by AI and gaining practical insights. This year's focus is on the following topics:
Take the opportunity to benefit from expert knowledge, gain practical insights and exchange ideas with the speakers and other entrepreneurs at eye level.
Small-to-medium enterprise decision-makers
This event is brought to you by fortiss GmbH, appliedAI Institute for Europe GmbH and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria.
For more information and the detailed agenda click here.
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Alexander Pretschner, Scientific Director, fortiss GmbH
Artificial intelligence (AI) is considered to be one of the key technologies of the coming years. Generative AI has opened the door wide for this technology, but there are still many questions for companies. What exactly is AI and GenAI, what developments can we expect, how safe is it to use and what other pitfalls can be associated with the technology? The presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of the current status: from basic concepts and capabilities to practical application examples in companies and the opportunities and limitations of this technology. Find out how AI is already being used in practice today, what opportunities it offers for your company and what you should look out for when using it.
Content of the presentation:
Speaker biography:
Prof. Pretschner studied computer science at RWTH Aachen University and then at the University of Kansas on a Fulbright Scholarship. After completing his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich, he worked as a senior assistant at the ETH Zurich until he moved to the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering as a group leader within the framework of the Fraunhofer Attract program and at the same time as an adjunct associate professor at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern. Prior to his appointment at the Technical University of Munich in 2012, he was a full professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Prof. Pretschner's field of research is software and systems engineering with specializations in testing and information security. Prof. Pretschner has been the founding director of the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt) since 2018 and has been Scientific Director of fortiss since 2016 and Spokesman of the Scientific Board of Directors since 2019.
Speaker: Dian Balta, Head of the Platform Engineering research field, fortiss GmbH
The AI Act sets out the framework conditions for the development and use of artificial intelligence. For companies, this means concrete specifications and compliance requirements that must be taken into account in the future. The AI Act aims to promote innovation while minimizing risks in the areas of data protection, security and ethics. Current developments in the legislative process have a direct impact on practice: companies must check at an early stage whether their AI applications meet the requirements. In this presentation, you will find out what regulations you will face and how you can best prepare for the new challenges.
Presentation content:
Speaker short biography:
Dian Balta investigates methods and architectures for pervasive, robust and trustworthy platforms in the Platform Engineering research group at fortiss, the research institute of the Free State of Bavaria for software-intensive systems. Platforms are software-defined infrastructures and form the digitalization basis for a high degree of networking between economic, social and state actors. By developing suitable skills, approaches and tools, his research contributes to counteracting the loss of platform sovereignty. At fortiss, he is currently working on topics relating to pervasive compliance and the verifiability of AI as a component of digital platforms.
Moderation: Mr. Benedikt Supper, AI Strategist, appliedAI Initiative
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) offers enormous potential for SMEs, especially in collaboration with innovative start-ups. In this panel, the founders of three AI start-ups will discuss how they shape collaboration with SMEs, the challenges that need to be overcome and the opportunities that arise for both sides. The focus will be on concrete experiences and best practices.
Content of the panel discussion:
Short biography of Benedikt Supper:
Benedikt Supper is an AI Strategist at the appliedAI initiative and has a background in business administration. In his work in the AI Transfer Plus program, he focuses on generative artificial intelligence and supports medium-sized companies in profitably exploiting its potential. He also deals with strategic issues such as cooperation between AI start-ups and SMEs.
Network with other participants, experts and companies in our networking area.
Speaker:
Dr. Markus Duchon, fortiss GmbH
Presentation content:
In his presentation, Dr. Markus Duchon will present a prototypical measurement kit for measuring energy consumption, which enables easy-to-use, comprehensible measurements in companies and can be used to train energy consultants and other groups of people involved. This provides them with a practical, comprehensible process model for developing a measurement concept for energy consumption in the company and for setting up an energy management tool. This serves the efficient, innovative use of data as part of the identification and implementation of energy efficiency and flexibility measures.
Speaker biography:
Dr. Markus Duchon is head of the “Architecture and Services for Critical Infrastructures” research group at fortiss. He also heads the fortiss Labs and is responsible for the Energy Lab. He completed his doctorate in the field of mobile and distributed systems at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich in cooperation with Siemens Corporate Technology. There he worked in the department for software architectures and platforms.
He is currently leading a project to develop a decentralized data infrastructure to accelerate planning processes in the energy industry. He is also working on projects to make grid stabilization more flexible, to optimize solar thermal power plants, to implement energy management systems for small and medium-sized enterprises, and to develop a decentralized data infrastructure to accelerate planning processes in the energy industry.
Speaker: Dr. Philip Hutchinson, Senior AI Strategist, appliedAI Institute
Presentation content:
The presentation “Best Practices for Startup-SME Collaborations” will highlight how innovative startups and SMEs can successfully collaborate and benefit from each other. Typical challenges and concrete solutions will be discussed in order to promote sustainable cooperation within the German AI ecosystem. A demo of the “AI Use Case Platform” shows in a practical way how SMEs can use the platform to identify customized AI applications for their business models and implement them together with startups
Speaker short biography:
Dr. Philip Hutchinson is Senior AI Strategist at the non-profit appliedAI Institute for Europe. In his position, his main goal is to bring ideas to life with a strategic and analytical approach and transform them into radical innovations to further advance Europe's role in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
Speaker: Johanna Farnhammer, applied AI Initiative
Presentation content:
This session will talk about success stories of medium-sized companies that have set out to implement AI use cases. Use cases and learning experiences will be described. The experience reports come from the AI Transfer Plus program, which was launched twice this year with around 20 companies each time.
Speaker short biography:
Dr. Johanna Farnhammer, Head of AI Transfer Plus at appliedAI Initiative GmbH, supports SMEs in getting started with AI applications. She holds a PhD in electrical engineering and has more than 10 years of industrial experience in the manufacturing sector. In addition to her work in AI, she also deals with topics that define people and gives lectures or writes books about them.
End of the event and networking afterwards
