11. April '24
A construction site buzzes with activity as workers toil on the roof of a partially built modular building at Hochschule Coburg. Scaffolding encases the structure, while a hill crowned with a castle and church tower looms in the background. Cars line the street, framing this academic hub.
A construction site buzzes with activity as workers toil on the roof of a partially built modular building at Hochschule Coburg. Scaffolding encases the structure, while a hill crowned with a castle and church tower looms in the background. Cars line the street, framing this academic hub.
Construction is underway on the former slaughterhouse site: Soon, around 25 professors, academic staff and students researching artificial intelligence (AI) will move into the new building.
The Center for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CRAI), which will bring together AI activities at Coburg University of Applied Sciences, is being built opposite the Alte Kühlhalle.
The aim is to promote responsible AI for people, companies and the region.
The Free State of Bavaria is investing around 4.1 million euros in this so-called HTAplus modular building at Coburg University of Applied Sciences via the HighTech Agenda Bayern.
It will be a sustainable building.
For example, photovoltaic systems will be installed on the façade.
The ground-breaking ceremony was held in July 2023 and the opening is already planned for June 2024.
The CRAI is not a public building, but is also of great importance to the region’s citizens thanks to the collaboration between researchers, industry and society.
AI has been the subject of research at Coburg University of Applied Sciences for a long time.
The ongoing Voll-KI project is investigating how AI can be integrated into teaching and better adapted to the individual needs of students.
In a new project, AI is being used to optimize photovoltaic systems by predicting their performance more reliably and identifying faulty system components.
In addition, the Shuttle Model Region Upper Franconia 2 project is researching how autonomous vehicles can drive safely even in poor weather conditions.
The GENESIS project is working on using AI to better detect intrusions into company networks and respond appropriately.
And a project on stress management using AI has also recently been launched (AI4Coping).
A lot of technology will also be moving into the new building.
Several laboratories are planned, including: a laboratory for natural language processing, a laboratory for data stream mining, a laboratory for AI-supported quality assurance, a laboratory for AI-supported multimodal human-machine interaction and a laboratory for explainable and responsible AI in the insurance sector.
In recent years – even before ChatGPT – the technical IT infrastructure has also been massively expanded, partly in the Erlangen data center.
A co-working space, for example, is also planned for the exchange of information.
