"So far, the Rhine-Main region has only been average in
Germany when it comes to artificial intelligence. A new start-up center could
change that, according to the very first congress of AI start-ups in Frankfurt.
The Enigma machine on display in the basement of the
Frankfurt Museum for Communication is more than 100 years old. According to the
text next to the exhibit, no one in Germany was interested in the encryption
machine for a decade. Conventional technologies were sufficient, the inventor
was told at the time.
Now the Enigma in the museum is a reminder of how difficult
it is for technical innovations in Germany.
Whether this was exactly the reason
why the podium of the first Frankfurt Congress for Artificial Intelligence (AI)
was positioned in the basement of the museum and the participants and speakers
could see the Enigma could not be found out. It is important for Marcel Isbert
to emphasize that the Frankfurt Communications Museum was deliberately chosen
as the venue. According to the co-organizer of the UAI congress, artificial
intelligence is no longer just about a technology. But also about communicating
their benefits and importance to the public.
Far behind Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria
Theoretically, the Rhine-Main region has the potential to
become a leading location for artificial intelligence in Germany, was heard
several times during the congress. There are many tech start-ups here, and
corporations such as Merck, Biontech or banks are also dealing with the
technology, explains Eric Menges of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main location marketing
agency. More than 150 young entrepreneurs from 40 start-ups from the region
take part in the congress itself to exchange information on the state of the
art and on application examples. A Lufthansa manager explains, for example, how
artificial intelligence is used to evaluate customer feedback. A representative
of Deutsche Börse describes how the technology is used to combat money
laundering. A Google Clouds programmer explains which algorithms the Internet
company uses to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases.
In practice, however, the region is currently lagging
behind. The federal government’s AI map, for example, lists more than 200 AI
projects each in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, and more than 100 in Berlin.
Only 51 are listed for the whole of Hessen, fewer than for Lower Saxony or
Rhineland-Palatinate. "Unfortunately, Hessen is not well positioned,"
says congress organizer Isbert, who also works for the Frankfurt AI company
Statworx. The solution from his point of view: The region needs its own AI
center, similar to the Techquartier for financial technology or the HOLM for
logistics. Isbert and Statworx founder Sebastian Heinz explain that this center
should not only promote founders, but also talk to the public and companies
about artificial intelligence.
Role models AI Garage and AI Campus
The regional industry is closely following what has already
happened in other federal states in order to network artificial intelligence
companies. Baden-Württemberg, for example, founded and financed the “KI Garage”
two years ago. Among other things, it is about communicating the benefits of
artificial intelligence to established companies, as AI garage boss Michael
Feygelmann explained at the congress. And at the same time wondering why
comparatively little has been done in this area in Frankfurt so far. Since
2021, Berlin has designed an 800 square meter AI campus as a coworking office
for founders, representatives from corporations, small and medium-sized
companies as well as researchers and investors. And in Heilbronn there is a
Fraunhofer research center for cognitive service systems. Its head, Bernd
Bienzeisler, advises that locations cooperate regionally and focus on their
respective strengths.
Both of these are only rudimentary in the Rhine-Main region.
The state of Hessen has been funding the establishment of a Hessian Center for
Artificial Intelligence since about this year. The focus of this "Hessian.AI"
is Darmstadt. The city of Frankfurt, in turn, founded the network association
"AI Frankfurt Rhein-Main" in 2019. However, its board member Stefan
Jäger, full-time speaker in the mayor's office, has to admit that the UAI
Congress is the first major event in which the association has participated
since it was founded. The industry meeting was organized by Statworx
and Station Frankfurt, a private company that promotes the start-up scene and
also organizes the annual start-up safari.
Darmstadt and Frankfurt urgently need to cooperate more
closely, says Statworx boss Sebastian Heinz. "Who in the long term wants to
remain competitive, they have to give up the island mentality.””
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