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Virtual assemblies, moisture forecasts for roofs, interactive visualization of information or component control with smartphones: Artificial intelligence is one of the hot topics nowadays, affecting small and medium-sized businesses. The Fraunhofer Innovation Center KI4LIFE in Lakeside Park Klagenfurt connects research and business and offers many opportunities when it comes to digitization and training.

Working on the future

Artificial intelligence still sounds a long way off to many but it is already used in numerous areas. Artificial intelligence and digitization also represent a competitive advantage for small and medium-sized enterprises. Research has been carried out in Klagenfurt at the Fraunhofer KI4Life innovation center for two years by now. With the manpower of nine scientific employees in the new office at Lakeside Park, information events, so-called “Data Driven Dialog”, take place on a regular basis.

From left: UBIT specialist group chairman Martin Zandonella, KI4LIFE director Eva Eggeling, WK President Jürgen Mandl at the first “Data Driven Dialog” at the office of the Fraunhofer Innovation Center in Klagenfurt’s Lakeside Park.

At the kick-off event, WK President Jürgen Mandl, together with UBIT specialist group chairman Martin Zandonella and entrepreneurs, got an overview of what the research center has to offer – which is one of the best in Europe! “Fraunhofer’s new location in Carinthia has a big impact on our economy due to the country’s needs of applied research and practical implementation”, says Mandl.

Support for SMEs

KI4LIFE director Eva Eggeling says: “We help to unearth data treasures in companies and work with partners from the economy on the future”. Whether virtual assemblies, machine vision in quality control, infotainment applications or forecasts for buildings – the innovation center is already working on exciting projects with Carinthian companies – and there is still a lot to come: Six times a year, small and medium-sized enterprises from Carinthia are given a digitization check. With this offer, companies are able to redeem ten days of research and development work at Fraunhofer in Klagenfurt.

“Interested companies can apply with their project ideas until the end of September. Three more checks will be given to companies this year. A real added value for every SME that needs support with digitization projects”, recommends Martin Zandonella. If you are interested, contact Fraunhofer in Klagenfurt by phone. Another six checks will be issued in 2022.

Improving Digital Skills

Entrepreneurs, managers, employees and interested parties can also use the training program on digitization, programming and artificial intelligence at Fraunhofer. A one-day training course gives you a compact overview of the topic of artificial intelligence. Further courses will get you deeper into data analysis or let you take a closer look at visualization and machine learning. Get more information at www.fraunhofer.at/KI4LIFE

Many thanks to the innovative Fraunhofer team with its exciting live demos!