Cyber Valley: World's first ELLIS Institute opens

Tübingen, June 21, 2024 – At the finale of the Cyber Valley Days, and Science Minister Petra Olschowski opened the ELLIS Institute Tübingen, heralding the next phase of the AI Innovation Campus. With the world's first ELLIS Institute, Cyber Valley is gaining further radiance. Olschowski also announced at the ceremony that the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is joining the Cyber Valley Community.

"Together, we are continuing the success story of our Cyber Valley innovation campus. With KIT, we are not only gaining an excellent technical university, but also a research institution from the Helmholtz Association," said Science Minister Olschowski. "Together with the ELLIS Institute, this will create a unique AI ecosystem that offers top international researchers and start-up founders optimal conditions. The Cyber Valley Start-Up Network alone will soon include 70 AI companies - and three to five more start-ups join the network every month. The foundations of Europe's future technology, the AI of tomorrow, are thus being laid on our Cyber Valley innovation campus. Areas of application in society and business range from medical technology to agriculture and Industry 4.0." 

Cyber Valley combines basic research and practice

"The opening of the first ELLIS Institute marks a milestone for AI research in Europe. The leading AI experts are visiting Tübingen and Stuttgart this week - and we want to continue to attract the best talent. The institute is set to become a home for excellent AI research in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe and the world," said Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf, Scientific Director of the ELLIS Institute Tübingen.

"Artificial intelligence is an integral part of research at KIT: whether in intelligent robots or in production machines, in innovative materials or autonomous vehicles, in climate research or in health technologies," emphasised Prof. Dr. Oliver Kraft, representing the President of KIT. "We are delighted that we can now actively contribute our expertise to the Cyber Valley innovation campus. Both KIT and the future partners will benefit from the collaboration and jointly drive forward pioneering innovations."

Cyber Valley is based on scientific excellence and entrepreneurial innovation. The innovation campus is already recognised as a leader in machine learning and areas such as computer vision. The second phase, which has now been launched, will focus on topics such as the future areas of robotics and health with the Cyber Valley Health Cluster and Robotic Cluster. In addition, the newly opened ELLIS Institute Tübingen offers top international AI researchers the greatest possible freedom and attractive framework conditions for their work. Since its foundation, the Cyber Valley Community has been strategically expanded – now to include the ELLIS Institute and KIT. The latest addition will bring the strong AI regions of Stuttgart-Tübingen and Karlsruhe even closer together.

Research transfer and social dialogue as important tasks

In future, the Cyber Valley partners want to further strengthen the transfer of research and the ecosystem for AI start-ups in particular. The 67 start-ups that have already been founded in the Cyber Valley start-up network are active in a wide range of sectors, including healthcare, the construction industry, mobility and agriculture. Some of these AI start-ups have already raised millions from investors.
 
In addition to research and transfer, Cyber Valley is also driving the social dialogue on AI: "Cyber Valley Public Engagement" provides information on the opportunities and challenges of AI applications and supports critical reflection. After all, artificial intelligence has the potential to fundamentally change our society and our lives. The overarching goal of Cyber Valley remains the same in the new phase: Baden-Württemberg should be at the forefront of AI worldwide.

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
Director Communications & Society
Cyber Valley GmbH
+49 (0) 160/9448 1797
rebecca.beiter@cyber-valley.de