News Category: Press Release

  • 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 

  • Cyber Valley Research Fund project optimizes focus and productivity

    Cyber Valley Research Fund project optimizes focus and productivity

    Unlike conventional attention training programs that rely on unrelated tasks or video games, ACTrain seamlessly integrates into the work environment, allowing users to enhance focus while actively engaged in their tasks. Users can specify the documents or applications on which they wish to concentrate and set a desired focus duration. The app then delivers real-time feedback on attention levels, transforming the workspace into a dynamic gym for strengthening focus and attention skills.  

    ACTrain uses a unique point system that is awarded based on a mathematical principle, which aligns short-term rewards with long-term value, helping users see the benefits of staying focused over time. The software is available for free on both Mac and Windows platforms at https://osf.io/8f6hx/. 

    Additionally, Lieder and his team collaborated with the non-profit organization Solve Education to integrate this point system into their educational game, The Dawn of Civilization, designed to help disadvantaged youth in developing countries learn English. An experiment revealed that this optimized point system led to significantly enhanced learning outcomes. 

    ACTrain is poised to redefine productivity and learning, enabling individuals to more effectively achieve goals and sustain focus in an ever more distracting world. 

    This project yielded the following peer-reviewed publications:  

    1. Wirzberger, M., Lado, A., Prentice, M., Oreshnikov, I., Passy, J.-C., Stock, A., & Lieder, F. (2024). Optimal feedback improves behavioral focus during self-regulated computer-based work. Scientific Reports, 14(3134). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53388-3 
    2. Kukamjad, T., Pauly, R., Heindrich, L., Amo, V., & Lieder, F. (2024, May). Evaluation of Brain Point Intervention in The Dawn of Civilization. UCLA Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference.  https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.11284.48008 
    3. Pauly, R., Heindrich, L., Amo, V., & Lieder, F. (2022, June). What to learn next? Aligning gamification rewards to long-term goals using reinforcement learning. The 5th Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making (RLDM2022). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.32661.19684 
    4. Teo. J., Pauly, R., Heindrich, L., Amo, V., & Lieder, F. (2021, June). Leveraging AI to support the self-directed learning of disadvantaged youth in developing countries. The first Life Improvement Science Conference. https://is.mpg.de/publications/paulyteoheindrichamolieder2021lisa-leveraging 
    5. Wirzberger, M., Lado, A., Eckerstorfer, L., Oreshnikov, I., Passy, J. C., Stock, A., Shenhav, A., & Lieder, F. (2020). How to navigate everyday distractions: Leveraging optimal feedback to train attention control. CogSci 2020. https://www.cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci20/papers/0380/ 
    6. Wirzberger, M., Oreshnikov, I., Passy, J., Lado, A., Shenhav, A., Lieder, F. (2020). ACTrain: Ein KI-basiertes Aufmerksamkeitstraining für die Wissensarbeit. 66th Spring Conference of the German Ergonomics Society. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.14709.50406 

    Dr. Falk Lieder is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UCLA and the Director of the Rational Altruism Lab. 

  • Cyber Valley welcomes four start-ups to the Start-up Network

    Cyber Valley welcomes four start-ups to the Start-up Network

     

    Respeak 

    Respeak provides AI assistants for various functions, including technical service, customer support, quality assurance, and knowledge management. Their platform allows businesses to integrate AI capabilities easily, enabling tasks such as answering questions, generating documentation, and transcribing speech.  

    ISTARI AI 

    ISTARI.AI delivers automated market research and lead generation by analyzing a global database of over 100 million entities. Their platform provides real-time insights, helping companies quickly identify trends, competitors, and opportunities for smarter decision-making. 

    Fara.AI 

    Fara.AI offers AI-Analytics for the fashion industry with data-driven insights from social media and photography, enhancing sustainability and market orientation. Their product helps brands stay ahead of the market by providing insights into consumer preferences and future trends. 

      

    Earlytrace 

    Earlytrace uses specific protein biomarkers to analyze protein patterns in blood samples, identifying early signs of breast cancer. The radiation-free AI-powered analysis delivers highly precise predictions on breast cancer sensitivity. 

    These four companies have joined the dynamic Cyber Valley Start-up Network, becoming part of a thriving AI community focused on advancing technology and fostering collaboration among start-ups, researchers, and industry partners. 

  • Cyber Valley Research Fund improves human decision-making with AI

    Cyber Valley Research Fund improves human decision-making with AI

    From February 2020 to February 2024, Dr. Falk Lieder led a major project supported by the Research Fund, titled “A Scalable Machine Learning Approach to Improve Human Decision Making,”. The project aimed to prepare for a future where effective decision-making is crucial. 

    Good decision-making involves planning, gathering relevant information, and handling uncertainty. As automation transforms the workforce by taking over routine tasks, the demand for jobs requiring decision-making in complex and novel situations will rise. Future roles will emphasize critical thinking and adaptability. To prepare, society must focus on retraining workers and equipping the next generation with advanced decision-making skills. 

    Lieder’s project leveraged artificial intelligence to uncover optimal decision strategies that help individuals navigate complex challenges. The team also designed and tested interactive tutorials, allowing participants to learn and apply these strategies effectively. 

    They evaluated their approach on a series of more realistic decision problems, ranging from an abstract planning task without uncertainty, to planning under uncertainty, to a company choosing between alternative projects. In each case, the new AI methods found decision strategies that outperformed both human decision-making and strategies identified by previous techniques. 

    Their interactive tutorials improved decision-making by explaining the strategy in clear language, demonstrating it through examples, and offering hands-on practice with feedback. In all three applications, individuals who completed the AI-driven strategy tutorials made better decisions than those who practiced decision-making independently. 

    This project yielded the following peer-reviewed publications: 

    1.  Consul, S., Heindrich, L., Stojchewski, J., & Lieder, F. (2022), Improving Human Decision-Making by Discovering Efficient Strategies for Hierarchical Planning, Computational Brain & Behavior, 5(2), 185-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42113-022-00128-3 

    2. Callaway, F., Jain, Y. R., van Opheusden, B., Das, P., Iwama, G., Gul, S., Krueger, P.M., Becker, F., Griffiths, T. L., & Lieder, F. (2022). Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Improve People's Planning Strategies. PNAS, 119 (12) e2117432119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117432119 

    3.  Mehta, A., Jain, Y. R., Kemtur, A., Stojcheski, J., Consul, S., Tosic, M., & Lieder, F. (2022). Leveraging machine learning to automatically derive robust decision strategies from imperfect knowledge of the real world. Computational Brain & Behavior, 5(3), 343-377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42113-022-00141-6 

    4.  Becker, F., Skirzynski, J., van Opheusden, B., & Lieder, F. (2022). Boosting human farsightedness with automatically discovered planning instructions. Computational Brain & Behavior, 5(4), 467–490. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42113-022-00149-y 

    5. Skirzynski, J., Jain, Y. R., & Lieder, F. (2024). Automatic discovery and description of human planning strategies. Behavior Research Methods, 56(3), 1065-1103. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02062-z 

    6. Skirzyński, J., Becker, F., Lieder, F. (2021). Automatic Discovery of Interpretable Planning Strategies. Machine Learning, 110, pp. 2641–2683. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10994-021-05963-2

    7. Kemtur, A., Jain, Y. R., Mehta, A., Callaway, F., Consul, S., Stojcheski, J., & Lieder, F. (2020). Leveraging machine learning to automatically derive robust planning strategies from biased models of the environment. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. 

    Preprints of articles yet to be published: 

    1. Heindrich, L., Consul, C. & Lieder, F. (2024). Leveraging AI to improve human planning in large partially observable environments. arXiv Preprint. https://arxiv.org/abs/2302.02785 

    2.  Heindrich, L., & Lieder, F. (2024). Leveraging automatic strategy discovery to teach people how to select better projects. https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.04082 

    Dr. Falk Lieder is now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UCLA and the Director of the Rational Altruism Lab. 

  • The Cyber Valley Start-up Network continues to grow

    The Cyber Valley Start-up Network continues to grow

    AskUI

    AskUI is an AI-powered automation platform that allows users to automate user interfaces (UI) across different operating systems, devices, and applications using natural language instructions. It does not rely on traditional selectors like XPath or CSS to identify UI elements. Instead, it uses computer vision and machine learning to visually recognize and interact with UI components.

    Subsequent

    Subsequent is a provider of highly accurate, real-time tracking systems and motion analysis based on simple video recordings. No complex multi-camera infrastructures are required. Subsequent's customers include sports clubs and associations, as well as clinics, research institutes and home fitness companies.

    NeurCG

    NeurCG provides cutting-edge AI-based graphics technologies and services that produce realistic human faces. It aims to revolutionize various industries by leveraging their advanced AI capabilities to generate highly realistic human faces, offering innovative and intelligent services to their clients. 

    EndoSurge 

    EndoSurge provides robotic interventional tools compatible with existing clinical magnetic reasonance imaging (MRI) scanners. This extends surgeons' capabilities by enabling radiation-free and image-guided treatment of heart disease for improved patient outcomes. 

    Ventus Technologies

    Ventus Technologies specializes in high-resolution weather forecasts and nowcasts for roads, enhancing the safety and efficiency of electric and autonomous vehicles. Utilizing advanced physical downscaling and AI, the start-up delivers precise, location-specific weather data. It also helps car makers and fleet operators integrate these into exisiting range and consumption estimation systems. 

    In joining the Cyber Valley Start-up Network, these five start-ups enhance the diversity and collaborative culture of the Cyber Valley Community. We are pleased to have them on board!

  • 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

  • Excellence meets capital: Deep Tech & Investor Day brings AI start-ups and investors together

    Excellence meets capital: Deep Tech & Investor Day brings AI start-ups and investors together

    Stuttgart, June 20, 2024 – On the second day of the Cyber Valley Days, the Deep Tech & Investor Day is dedicated to the financing of AI companies. By fostering connections between start-ups and investors, Cyber Valley supports the development of Baden-Württemberg as a hub for technology transfer. It aims to bring decisive innovations in AI into application. One of the day’s highlights is the scientific symposium of the first ELLIS Institute in Tübingen. 


    Cyber Valley builds bridges between investors and entrepreneurs  

    “We don't just want to conduct outstanding research – we also want to put it into practice and thus help shape our future as a business location. With the Investor Day, we are connecting visionary ideas with the necessary capital to bring innovation into application,” says Rebecca C. Reisch, Managing Director of Cyber Valley GmbH.

    For investors, the day offers the opportunity to network with the most innovative AI start-ups with roots predominantly in the excellent research of the Cyber Valley Community and are looking for strategic partnerships for further development and market implementation.  

    “We started working with selected investors around five years ago. These included Atlantic Labs from Berlin, Grazia from Stuttgart and IT Farm from Tokyo. This has now resulted in a community of early-stage companies all the way through to companies that are becoming SMEs and hidden champions. They benefit from the close connection to our Cyber Valley Investor Network – and vice versa, more and more investors are also looking at our start-ups,” says Alex Diehl, Investor and Cyber Valley Senior Advisor. “We think that the number of start-ups will continue to grow in the future thanks to our AI Incubator. The quality is also increasing as a result of our growing international network.”

    Yann LeCun and other world-leading AI researchers visit Tübingen  

    One of the day’s highlights is the scientific symposium organized by the first ELLIS Institute in Tübingen, the new center for basic AI research. ELLIS stands for “European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems”, and the institute is the lighthouse project of the Europe-wide network for artificial intelligence. Internationally renowned AI experts such as Yann LeCun and Max Welling will provide an insight into the AI research of the future. “The ELLIS Institute will continue to advance modern AI in Tübingen, while being embedded in European values. We want to attract the best talent and build a special place together,” says Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf, Scientific Director of the ELLIS Institute.

    Cyber Valley Days are a three-day event in Stuttgart and Tübingen from June 19 to 21, 2024 to celebrate the Cyber Valley Community. The 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 

    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 ELLIS Institute Tübingen 

    The ELLIS Institute is set to become a world-renowned center for pioneering basic research in the field of artificial intelligence. The Institute aims to attract the world's best machine learning talent, providing them with outstanding conditions to conduct research in a state-of-the-art facility located in Tübingen, Germany. The vision is part of a broader initiative, the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS), which aims to build a pan-European institution for machine learning research.

    Media Contact 

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