Agile Transfer Funds
The Tübingen AI Center regularly invites innovative transfer project proposals that seek to transform ML-based concepts into viable products or applications for potential future spin-offs. These projects should align with our enduring mission to 'advance machine learning in the world' and aim to generate a significant societal and economic impact. We value proposals that are forward-thinking and ready for swift initiation. These ongoing calls offer funding for staff positions, hardware purchases, and other associated costs for a project duration of one year. With categories accommodating individual students to small teams, we encourage all Tübingen researchers and students to seize this opportunity to bring their visionary ideas to life. For detailed application and evaluation criteria, stay tuned to our latest announcements.
In the last call (April 2023), the following projects have received funding:
- Polybot: A flexible and automomous legged robot for a sustainable farming revolution
(Dr. Wieland Brendel and Claudio Michaelis, independent research group Robust Machine Learning at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, see polybot.eu) - KI macht Schule: Democratizing AI Literacy in Germany — The AI Teaching Platform
(KI macht Schule gUG, see ki-macht-schule.de) - Advancing ML-based spatial tissue biomarker discovery for precision oncology - supervised spatial single-cell image analysis of the tumor microenvironment at scale
(Prof. Dr. Manfred Claassen, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Tübingen, Prof. Dr. Christian M. Schürch, Department of Pathology and Neuropathology, University Hospital and Comprehensive Cancer Center Tübingen, and Dr. Benjamin Ruf, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Tübingen. - Medelium - For a new millennium of data-driven medicine
Marius de Arruda Botelho, Peter Placzek, and Michael Graf, see personalhealthtrain.de)
Cyber Valley AI Incubator
The Cyber Valley AI Incubator encourages scientists, technologists and business talents to found their business and be part of the next generation AI startups.
The six week program inspires researchers to think about possibilities to transfer their cutting-edge AI & robotics research into products & applications. With topics like prototyping, product-market-fit, business strategy and funding opportunities the program equips the participants with knowledge, tools and skills and connects them with a network of experts, mentors, other founders and investors to inspire their journey into the AI startup world. In the end every team will have the opportunity to pitch their idea to a jury of industry experts and win special awards.
Cyber Valley Start-up Network
With the Start-up Network, Cyber Valley is building and fostering a community of entrepreneurs. As members of the network, start-ups are invited to attend newly created Cyber Valley networking events such as talks, meet-ups, and tech brunches on a regular basis. They are listed on the Cyber Valley website and can use the network’s logo in their communication materials.
Network members are required to have a connection to Cyber Valley, for instance by being headquartered in Baden-Württemberg, or by having members or alumni of Cyber Valley partner institutions among their founders. Their activities must be related to the field of intelligent systems. Membership in the Cyber Valley Start-up Network is reviewed once a year to ensure that these requirements continue to be met.
Cyber Valley Investor Network
The Cyber Valley Investor Network makes a significant contribution to making Europe’s largest research consortium in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) a breeding ground for successful AI start-ups. The network consists of six well-known venture capital (VC) firms: Atlantic Labs (Berlin), IT-Farm (Tokyo/Palo Alto), BMW i Ventures (Mountain View/Munich), Grazia Equity (Stuttgart), and Gründermotor (Stuttgart) and MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg GmbH (Stuttgart).
They are committed to providing mentorship to scientists within the Cyber Valley ecosystem by helping them turn research and business ideas into thriving companies. The VC firms’ guidance will serve as a springboard for future entrepreneurs, creating the AI jobs of the future.
Start-up: Maddox AI
Maddox AI automates quality inspections for manufacturing companies, while focusing on those visual inspection tasks that are still performed manually, as conventional (=rule-based) computer vision methods fail. In product development, the company closely collaborates with leading AI researchers from the Cyber Valley.
Maddox AI is used by DAX-40 companies as well as by large medium-sized enterprises. With offices in Tübingen, Cologne and Berlin, the team of scientists, former strategy consultants, mechanical engineers, and software developers works on their mission to establish Maddox AI as the modern quality management platform.
