Digitalisation, AI and the region
“Separating rubbish, connecting people”, is the dictum used by Würzburg cabaret artist Frank-Markus Barwasser to describe the state of our society. We are literally torn between the demands of ecological thinking and the pathological constraints of social networks. But there is more truth in this sentence than one might initially expect. Separating rubbish is a guiding principle calling us to focus on the essentials and to block out any unnecessary information.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can take on an important filter function here in the new data overload and filter out any irrelevant information. And connecting people is the key to knowledge management for the new t opics of the future in the form of skills networks. The dynamic exchange between people from different worlds of experience, who join together to form a network on specific topics, is a key function for a region’s development.
Main Franconia is particularly strong in its compactness and fast when it comes to building networks and implementing joint projects. Speed is a crucial factor. The Main Franconia region is rapidly developing into a hotspot for artificial intelligence and is blessed with a large number of active networks for the future.
Universities
The two main pillars for competence building in Main Franconia are the CAIRO and CAIDAS research centres. In the autumn of 2019, the Bavarian state government launched the Hightech Agenda to establish a Bavarian-wide network for AI research with hubs in Munich, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Ingolstadt and Würzburg. The Würzburg “Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (CAIDAS)” is currently being established at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU). The foundation stone was laid for the new “Artificial Intelligence” institute building was laid on the Hubland Nord campus in January 2023. Attached to this is the “Kallimachos” Centre for Philology and Digitality (ZPD) between Computer Science and Computational Humanities.
The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIRO), based in Würzburg, was launched in 2022 at the Würzburg-Schweinfurt University of Applied Sciences. The movement aspects of robotics are being researched at the Schweinfurt Centre for Robotics (CERI). It addresses the needs of regional companies with a focus on automation and industrial processes. The “Digital Society” degree programme was launched in 2023.
Networks
The economic and research region of Main Franconia has a smorgasbord of very lively high-impact that connect the Würzburg regiopolis with its Main Franconian hinterland. Here are a few examples: The HR Netzwerk has existed since 2015 and offers HR managers the opportunity for networking and to exchange ideas. The network encompasses almost 450 companies with a total of 500 people from the Würzburg/Main Franconia area.
IT-Verband Mainfranken e. V. is a non-profit open association of over 40 companies and institutions from the Main Franconia region, which offer IT products and services or whose main business is IT. The goals are networking, exchange of knowledge and ideas, and publicity for the IT scene.
Marketing-Club Mainfranken e. V. is the regional marketing community in Main Franconia. This association has been bringing together specialists and managers, freelancers as well as companies related to marketing and sales have since 1973.
Würzburg AG was founded in 2001 and is an association of committed companies and prominent figures from the economic, scientific and public sectors in the legal form of a non-profit public limited company. Its goal is to raise public awareness for Würzburg’s strengths – education, innovation and quality of life – and to help shape Würzburg as a place to work, acquire a profession and live and to prepare it well for the challenges of the future.
In addition, there are numerous platforms, events, meetups and network events to discuss B2B topics. For instance, the Würzburg Web Week launched in 2018 and is the annual meeting place for all those who want to shape the future and drive the digital transformation: entrepreneurs, founders of start-ups and self-employed people as well as employees, school pupils, students and citizens. Over the course of the week, digital pioneers, creative minds and visionary people present the topics and trends they, as well as companies and organisations in Main Franconia, are dealing with.
Transforming Media is a media conference that was relaunched in 2023 and continues the tradition of the Mobile Media Day, which discussed future topics relevant to the media landscape at the Main Franconia media location from 2013 to 2019: new technologies such as AI, Web3 and XR are speeding up the digital transformation in the media world and influencing how we live together in the digital society. The largest annual North Bavarian media event is organised together with the Media Network in Bavaria.
The AI Business Lounge was launched in November 2022 – after the “ChatGPT moment” – and continues the tradition of the Social Media Business Lounge (2010 to 2019). The network for generative language models discusses application, technology and this development’s trends at monthly meetups.
Founded as recently as May 2023, the Cobot Initiative Mainfranken ist a brand new player on the scene. It is a monthly meetup and is currently addressing applications with robots and cobots (collaborative robots) for skilled trades, which help alleviate the problem of attracting new and young talent and the shortage of skilled workers. In conjunction with the rapidly growing possibilities of artificial intelligence, great opportunities are emerging for trade and industry in the Main Franconia economic region. “Cobot4You”, a conference with expo and workshops, is to be held for the first time in October 2023.
ZDI: Zentrum für digitale Innovation, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in June 2023.
www.zdi-mainfranken.de
GRIBS: Gründer-, Innovations- und Beratungszentrum Schweinfurt
www.gribs.de
TGZ: Technologie- und Gründerzentrum Würzburg
www.tgz-wuerzburg.de
IGZ: Innovations- & Gründerzentrum Würzburg
www.igz.wuerzburg.de
There are furher organisations active in the region, such as theRSG Rhön-Saale-Gründer- und Innovationszentrum in Bad Kissingen and
the Starthouse Spessart in Lohr.
Strong start-up scene
Main Franconia is a successful start-up region, where, for instance, avibrant start-up scene has developed under the heading “Gründen@Würzburg” since 2014. The aim of the initiative is to promote exchange between start-ups, to find the best contacts for a start-up project and to actively support the founders on their way to becoming independent. In addition to regular business start-up meetings and investor evenings, there is Matchmaking 2.0, financing consultation days, workshops and webinars, as well as an annual “Startup City” event.
In cooperation with the universities and the CIC, there is a lot of exchange and networking between people with ideas, experts from companies, investors and the stakeholders of the now five business incubators in the region: ZDI, IGZ, TGZ, Starthouse Spessart in Lohr and the Gribs in Schweinfurt. The network brings together start-ups, founders, investors, media, politics and supporters in Würzburg under the motto “A great scene with great ideas”. In 2015, the Würzburg Start-up Award was also established, which was awarded for the eighth time in 2023. The “Gründen@Würzburg” start-up network awards the start-up prize annually for the city and district of Würzburg region: “Global Hero” represents innovative, scalable business models that have the potential to take off and enjoy great success beyond the region. And the CIC’s junior chamber awards the “Local Hero” prize for innovative, regionally active start-up ideas for this region.
All this sounds like a strong focus on the essential topics of the future and on the skills-based networking of Main Franconia’s diverse knowledge; separating rubbish and connecting people indeed!
Header picture: This is how AI imagines Würzburg in the distant future. Photo: jo’s büro für Gestaltung via MidJourney
