Network Role: Industry

  • Mirelo AI: Shaping the Future of AI from Cyber Valley

    Mirelo AI: Shaping the Future of AI from Cyber Valley

    Carl Johann Simon-Gabriel’s career exemplifies the successful translation of cutting-edge research into entrepreneurial innovation. After completing his PhD under the supervision of Prof. Bernhard Schölkopf at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen, he spent several years working in leading technology companies in the United States before co-founding Mirelo AI.

    Mirelo AI develops generative AI models capable of producing high-quality, production-ready sound effects directly from video content. This technology addresses a largely untapped area of audiovisual production and offers substantial potential for applications in film, gaming, and advertising.

    Founded in 2023, since joining the Cyber Valley Startup Network in 2024, Mirelo AI has become a strong example of how scientific excellence, ambitious vision, and effective execution converge within the region’s AI ecosystem. The successful completion of this seed round underscores both the company’s potential and the international relevance of the Cyber Valley research and innovation environment.

    Image: Flügelmann

    At the Demo Day of the Cyber Valley AI Incubator (Batch #6), Carl Johann Simon-Gabriel participated as a keynote speaker, sharing insights from his entrepreneurial journey and inspiring the next generation of founders. Reflecting on his experience, he noted:

    “Cyber Valley is a great initiative for emerging AI startups, especially because it is rooted in Tübingen’s world-renowned AI research scene and its talent pool.”

    Mirelo AI is continuing to expand its team and is actively recruiting talent to develop next-generation generative AI models for audio and video. Open positions are available on the company’s website: Mirelo.ai

    Related Start-Ups

    • Mirelo AI

      Mirelo AI

  • Cyber Valley announces partnership with SPRIND

    Cyber Valley announces partnership with SPRIND

    SPRIND, the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, funds groundbreaking projects, alternative approaches, and spin-offs. Through this new partnership, Cyber Valley and SPRIND will foster creative solutions beyond conventional paths. 

    This partnership seeks to explore next-level AI technologies, venturing beyond popular concepts like Large Language Models (LLMs), Transformers, and Diffusion Models. It will focus on championing alternative approaches to AI, encouraging bold thinking, and exploring uncharted territories. This collaboration signals a significant step toward redefining the possibilities of artificial intelligence. 

    Leading the charge for this initiative is Mirko Holzer, Innovation Manager at SPRIND, “This partnership is all about pushing boundaries and bringing bold ideas to life. With Cyber Valley, we are creating the perfect launchpad for disruptive technologies that have the power to reshape science and society.”   

    Florian Mayer, COO of Cyber Valley, shares the enthusiasm, “It’s fantastic to see SPRIND committing significant resources and funding to such a vital area of innovation. We are thrilled to join forces and pave the way for the next wave of groundbreaking AI technologies.” 

    Alternative approaches 

    Through this collaboration, SPRIND and Cyber Valley are looking for innovators who are working on new and alternative approaches to artificial intelligence (AI), transformative artificial intelligence (TAI), and artificial general intelligence (AGI). The goal is to find alternative, bold, even speculative ideas that diverge from established AI pathways such as diffusion models, large-scale language models, and/or generally transformer-based architectures. 
     

    The partnership supports visionary AI methods, emphasizing:   

    • New Architectures: Energy-efficient designs inspired by biological systems, non-neural paradigms, quantum-inspired models, adaptive systems, and generative models simulating environments. 

    • New Learning Paradigms: Innovative methods like federated learning, causal learning, reinforcement learning, active learning, and synthetic data ecosystems to redefine how machines learn. 

    • New Hardware Approaches: Breakthroughs in neuromorphic, photonic, holographic, and biohybrid computing, as well as robotic systems with embodied cognition and sensory integration. 

    • Innovations outside the mainstream: Bold ideas such as meta-learning, swarm intelligence, digital organisms, evolutionary algorithms, and AI systems with emotional and self-aware intelligence. 

  • Cyber Valley celebrates the launch of ELLIS Institute Finland

    Cyber Valley celebrates the launch of ELLIS Institute Finland

    The new institute is part of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) – a pan-European AI research network that is an important player in the Cyber Valley Community. It will position Finland as a key player in AI, attract international talent, and drive cutting-edge research. This announcement marks a major step towards achieving Cyber Valley’s vision of a closely connected, pan-European AI research network, strengthening Europe’s global standing in AI and machine learning.

    The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture has pledged substantial financial backing, committing €10 million annually from 2025 to 2028, in addition to a launch-phase investment of €6 million. Further support comes from the Post Scriptum Foundation, established by Peter Sarlin, CEO and co-founder of Silo AI. Silo AI joined the Cyber Valley Community in June 2024 at Cyber Valley Days. The foundation has pledged an additional €10 million to fund up to 15 professorships at the ELLIS Institute Finland. 

    This ELLIS Institute, which will be based at Aalto University, is the second in the prestigious pan-European ELLIS network, following the establishment of the first institute in Tübingen, Germany, in 2023. Aalto University will lead the initiative in Finland, working collaboratively with other Finnish universities.

    The new institute will build on the achievements of the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI), which currently hosts ELLIS Unit Helsinki—the Finnish node of ELLIS. Professor Samuel Kaski, director of FCAI and ELLIS Unit Helsinki, will play a central role in the development of ELLIS Institute Finland.

    This initiative underlines Finland’s commitment to becoming a major hub for AI research and innovation, leveraging its longstanding expertise to address both local and global challenges through AI-driven solutions.

    Cyber Valley is proud to support and collaborate with ELLIS Institute Finland. Together, we look forward to advancing European AI research, fostering collaborative innovation, and addressing global challenges through the power of intelligent systems. This marks a significant step in uniting Europe’s AI efforts, strengthening our shared goals and vision for a more connected, forward-thinking AI research ecosystem.

  • Cyber Valley unites AI and robotics expertise for the healthcare sector

    Cyber Valley unites AI and robotics expertise for the healthcare sector

    Stuttgart, October 28, 2024 – The Cyber Valley Health Cluster officially launched last Thursday with a public kickoff event in Tübingen. This initiative launched by Cyber Valley aims to unite the forces of science, industry, and start-ups to improve people’s long-term health through artificial intelligence and modern robotics. 

    Collaboration between research and industry for AI-driven health technologies 

    The Cyber Valley Health Cluster aims to integrate research, practice, and technology. It promotes joint projects between AI experts, scientists, and companies to develop innovative solutions for current and future challenges in the healthcare sector. The Health Cluster emphasizes interdisciplinary knowledge exchange, enabling new approaches and solutions that go beyond individual technological advances.  

    Rebecca C. Reisch, Managing Director of Cyber Valley GmbH, highlights the importance of this collaboration: “The Cyber Valley Health Cluster is more than an academic endeavor; it’s a collaborative alliance that encourages exchange between industry, start-ups, and research. The Health Cluster is where AI-based solutions can be developed to address the most pressing challenges in modern medicine and beyond.”

    Strong Cyber Valley Partners and Friends are already on board  

    The Cyber Valley Health Cluster is backed by strong partnerships. Among the already confirmed Cyber Valley Partners are well-known players such as Boehringer Ingelheim, ZEISS, the University of Tübingen, the University of Stuttgart, and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS). These partners are investing significantly in the Cyber Valley Community and are playing a central role in the further development of the Health Cluster. 

    In addition, the Cyber Valley Health Cluster is supported by numerous committed Cyber Valley Friends who enrich the network with their expertise and connections. These include Immatics, Cegat, Ovesco, BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg, BioRegio STERN Management, as well as the Medical Innovations Incubator, and the start-ups Osora and Cerebri.  Further candidates are already under consideration.  

    Reisch emphasizes the role of the Cyber Valley Community: “Together with our Partners and Friends, we are creating an environment that drives the development of technologies that are not only groundbreaking but also practical and ethical. Because only by working together do we have the chance to establish Baden-Württemberg and the whole of Germany at the forefront of global AI health innovations.” 

    Long-term goal: a lasting healthcare alliance 

    The Cyber Valley Health Cluster supports start-ups and innovation projects to create real value by generating new jobs and health solutions. Health Cluster participants moreover benefit from extensive connections and new networking opportunities that enable the development of pioneering healthcare solutions and rapid knowledge transfer between research and industry. 

    The long-term goal of the Cyber Valley Health Cluster is to create a lasting and active community, pooling health expertise to enable interdisciplinary teams to tackle global health challenges. Further events and interaction formats are planned for the Cyber Valley Health Cluster in the coming months. 

    About Cyber Valley 

    Cyber Valley is Europe’s largest and leading center for excellence in artificial intelligence and modern robotics. Its mission and public mandate are to advocate for the research, development, application, and acceptance of technologies and methods in the field of intelligent systems. Cyber Valley encourages entrepreneurship by uniting scientific excellence with innovation and technology transfer. In addition, Cyber Valley facilitates critical reflection on the ethical and social implications of AI through public engagement. Cyber Valley envisions a future in which the full potential of intelligent systems is leveraged for the greater good of the world. 

    Media Contact: 

    Laura Neusser 
    Public Outreach Manager 
    Cyber Valley GmbH 
    laura.neusser@cyber-valley.de 

  • Silo AI and Cyber Valley forge partnership to advance multilingual open-source AI

    Silo AI and Cyber Valley forge partnership to advance multilingual open-source AI

    Helsinki & Tübingen, 21.06.2024 – Silo AI, Europe’s largest private AI lab, and Cyber Valley, the largest center for excellence in AI research, have established a strategic partnership. The joint initiative is aimed at strengthening Europe’s position in the AI landscape and building an open-source foundation for multilingual AI, covering all official European Union languages. Additionally, the partnership will explore cooperation with Cyber Valley’s industrial and scientific partners. 

    “We’re very happy to partner with the leading center for excellence in AI and modern robotics in Europe, with partners from both academia and industry. Silo AI’s existing research co-operation with the professors Frank Hutter and Matthias Bethge at the co-located University of Tuebingen and ELLIS Institute on open LLMs provides a good basis for collaboration among Cyber Valley’s industrial partners Amazon, BMW, IAV, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Bosch, and ZF”, says Peter Sarlin, CEO and co-founder of Silo AI. 

    Rebecca C. Reisch, Managing Director of Cyber Valley, adds: “This alliance represents a remarkable turning  point, not just for Cyber Valley and Silo AI, but for multilingual AI development. It resonates with our goal to assist in fostering an AI ecosystem that respects cultural and ethical values that we as the Cyber Valley Community stand for. We are excited to explore this and other opportunities with Europe’s leading private AI lab.”

    Together with partners, Silo AI is committed to developing a series of state-of-the-art, open-source and transparent foundation models for European languages, starting with all the official ones, and aiming to include other languages of significant economic and cultural value. The partnership will aim to support this objective and enable even tighter cooperation not just between Cyber Valley and Silo AI, but also with other research and industrial partners. Open-source models based on these LLMs will serve as platforms to leverage data for generating wider economic and societal benefits while upholding stringent standards of privacy, security, safety, and ethics.

    About Silo AI

    Silo AI is Europe’s largest private AI lab on a mission to ensure Europe has a flagship AI company. We’re a trusted AI partner that brings competitive advantage to product R&D. We build AI-driven solutions and products to enable smart devices, autonomous vehicles, industry 4.0, and smart cities. Silo AI provides its customers unique access to world-class AI models and expertise, as well as the SiloGen model-as-a-service platform. As part of SiloGen, Silo AI is currently building market leading open-source LLMst to ensure European digital sovereignty and democratize access to LLMs.

    About Cyber Valley

    Cyber Valley is Europe’s largest and leading center for excellence in artificial intelligence and modern robotics. Its mission and public mandate are to advocate for the research, development, application, and acceptance of technologies and methods in the field of intelligent systems. Cyber Valley encourages entrepreneurship by uniting scientific excellence with innovation and technology transfer. In addition, Cyber Valley facilitates critical reflection on the ethical and social implications of AI through public engagement. Cyber Valley envisions a future in which the full potential of intelligent systems is leveraged for the greater good of the world.   

    Press Contact Silo AI

    Heli Thoren
    heli.thoren@silo.ai
    +358 (0) 50 572 9377
     

    Press Contact Cyber Valley

    Rebecca Beiter 
    Rebecca.beiter@cyber-valley.de 
    +49 (0) 160 9448 1797

  • The AI Festival in Baden-Württemberg: Cyber Valley Days Begin!

    The AI Festival in Baden-Württemberg: Cyber Valley Days Begin!

    Stuttgart, June 19, 2024 – Our future will be shaped by the brightest minds of our time, especially through the use of AI. Experts from the German and international AI and robotics community will celebrate Cyber Valley Days from June 19 to 21. For today's kick-off event, entrepreneurs from the Cyber Valley Start-up Network, international AI experts from the Cyber Valley Community, and political representatives are gathering in Stuttgart at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.  

    “Our Cyber Valley Innovation Campus represents groundbreaking research and serves as a best-practice example of close collaboration between science and industry”, says Dr. Stegmann, Minister of State and Head of the State Chancellery. “Cyber Valley Days – with their numerous regional and international partners – show us the level of expertise in AI technology we already have here, as well as the significant untapped potential. The event proves the leading role of this internationally renowned research consortium. Through collective efforts, we are shaping the future of trustworthy AI in Germany and Europe to drive important innovations forward.” 

    “The Cyber Valley Days mark an important milestone: With our network, we have already established ourselves as an internationally recognized, excellent research location with spin-off dynamics. Our community is not only innovative – it is also growing, according to the motto #bettertogether. In this way, we are putting Baden-Württemberg on the global map in the field of intelligent systems in the long term,” says Rebecca C. Reisch, Managing Director of Cyber Valley GmbH.  

    The AI Incubator as a springboard for founders  

    At the Expo, the exhibition of the Cyber Valley Community, the public can get to know the minds behind the future of AI and gain an insight into Baden-Württemberg’s innovative power. With close to 70 AI companies, the Cyber Valley Start-up Network is active in a wide range of industries, including healthcare, construction, mobility, and agriculture. Established and leading AI companies from Baden-Württemberg include vialytics, Sereact and Computomics. Other network members such as preML, hydrop systems and Swarm Logistics Technologies will be showcasing the latest AI trends at their booths at the Cyber Valley Days opening.

    Pitches from the participants of the AI Incubator in the afternoon will provide an insight into what the AI business models of the future will look like. Through The AI Incubator program, Cyber Valley supports AI researchers and young entrepreneurs in expanding their start-up ideas and successfully implementing them in the market. Renowned entrepreneurs and start-up coaches are on hand to provide them with free advice and support. The program is currently in its fourth round with 25 AI founders. The AI Incubator is financed by the Carl Zeiss Foundation.  

    Cyber Valley Days are a three-day event in Stuttgart and Tübingen from June 19 to 21, 2024 to celebrate the Cyber Valley Community. Its program focuses on entrepreneurship and scientific innovation in artificial intelligence and modern robotics from Baden-Württemberg.  

    Information about Cyber Valley Days 

    cyber-valley.de/cyber-valley-days

    Photos of the Cyber Valley Days can be downloaded from 18:00 CEST. 

     

    About Cyber Valley 

    Cyber Valley is Europe’s largest and leading center for excellence in artificial intelligence and modern robotics. Its mission and public mandate are to advocate for the research, development, application, and acceptance of technologies and methods in the field of intelligent systems. Cyber Valley encourages entrepreneurship by uniting scientific excellence with innovation and technology transfer. In addition, Cyber Valley facilitates critical reflection on the ethical and social implications of AI through public engagement. Cyber Valley envisions a future in which the full potential of intelligent systems is leveraged for the greater good of the world.   

     

    About the Cyber Valley Start-up Network 

    The Cyber Valley Start-up Network builds and promotes a vibrant community of AI entrepreneurs. Members get access to exclusive events and a diverse network of AI researchers, investors, and other start-up founders. The prerequisite for membership is a connection to Cyber Valley, such as being members or alumni of the Cyber Valley Community, or a location in Baden-Württemberg. The business models must have intelligent systems at their core. Further information: cyber-valley.de/start-up-network. 

    Media Contact: 
    Rebecca Beiter 
    Rebecca.beiter@cyber-valley.de 
    +49 (0) 160 9448 1797 

  • Amazon and Max Planck Society announce recipients of gift awards

    Amazon and Max Planck Society announce recipients of gift awards

    In line with that goal, the Science Hub is sponsoring the following research projects:

    • “Non-verbal interpersonal synchrony analysis tool (nVISA-online)”: Senya Polikovsky, research engineer, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

    “Interpersonal synchrony (In-Sync), the spontaneous synchronization of behavioral, affective, and even physiological responses in contexts of social interaction, offers a useful insight into the quality and smoothness of interactions between social partners. Automatic assessment of In-Sync could provide objective tools for studying the interactive abilities of people with psychiatric conditions and the degree of therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy, as well as online human-to-human and avatar-to-human interactions. Body movement dynamics are central to the analysis of In-Sync. Besides that, facial expression, gaze interaction, audio signals, and physiological measures such as electrodermal activity, heart rate variability, or breathing rates can be used to detect In-Sync. The goal of our proposed research is to extend In-Sync analysis to online scenarios. We would like to identify the instruments and the procedures for the detection of In-Sync in online therapy sessions.”

    • “Accurate 3D body shape and clothing estimation from a single image”: Gerard Pons-Moll, senior researcher, Max Planck Institute for Informatics, and professor, University of Tübingen, endowed by the Carl Zeiss Foundation

    “This research aims to reconstruct a 3-D digital human from a single RGB photograph, using a combination of 3-D neural implicit functions to represent worn garments and a parametric model to represent and control the pose and shape of the underlying body. A key novelty is to incorporate feedback in the deep body estimation network, ensuring that the 3-D body mesh is consistent with its projection onto the photo.”

    • “Learning clothing pressure fields via high-fidelity finite element analysis”: Gokhan Serhat, research scientist, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and assistant professor, KU Leuven

    “Accurate estimation of clothing pressure on the human body is crucial to understanding physical factors that influence clothing comfort. Such estimation requires the ability to express contact pressure fields in terms of different body sizes and types and garment sizes and material properties. However, such pressure fields are generally too complex to be modeled by analytical methods. Experimentation also has certain drawbacks, since it does not provide information about internal stresses, and precise measurement of the contact pressure between a pair of curved soft bodies is difficult. The intricate anatomy of the human body may require elaborate finite-element models with several thousand elements for capturing deformation mechanics accurately. Such large models inherently induce high computational costs and are likely to suffer from the aforementioned numerical issues. The proposed study aims to address this problem by developing a deformation model based on deep neural networks trained with the data from finite-element analysis.”

    • “Material estimation of clothing for controllable human avatars”: Justus Thies, research group leader, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and professor, Technical University Darmstadt

    “A key challenge for controllable human avatars is the reconstruction and animation of clothing. While data-driven, person-specific reconstruction methods show promising results, the extrapolation to novel poses with realistic deformations of clothing is limited. In contrast to data-driven methods, physics simulation can be used to model the dynamically changing clothing. In this project, we want to explore material estimation of human clothing for such simulations. Specifically, we are interested in predicting material properties such as stiffness or stretch that influence the motion-dependent deformation of the clothing. Besides these mechanical material properties, we are also interested in predicting material properties for the appearance of clothing that allow for re-renderings under novel poses.”

  • SimTech METEOR Competition 2024

    SimTech METEOR Competition 2024

    The SimTech METEOR competition was launched by the Knowledge Transfer Committee headed by Professor and SimTech scientist Jörg Fehr from the Institute of Engineering and Computational Mechanics at the University of Stuttgart.

    The competition stands out for its directness and efficiency by focusing on the rapid transfer of basic knowledge into the development of new technical products, materials and processes. A special feature is its rapid processing: in just three months after the submission deadline on February 23, 2024, the funding decisions will be announced in May 2024.

    The selection committee will decide which research questions and challenges will be supported with up to €100,000 each. This targeted funding not only enables the implementation of innovative ideas, but also combines them with an efficient use of funds.

    The SimTech METEOR competition is particularly relevant for companies and institutions, as it promotes the transfer and exchange between industry and research. The speed of knowledge transfer ensures that fundamental findings can flow directly into the development of new products, processes, and methods.

    Companies and institutions based in Germany are eligible to participate, regardless of their size. Preference is given to small companies and institutions based on a list of criteria.

    The SimTech METEOR competition focuses on the close integration of research and industry to tackle the challenges of the future together. The deadline for submissions is February 23, 2024. Join us and actively shape the future of technological innovation!