Tuttlingen/Stuttgart – The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs is funding regional AI labs, including the KIM labs of the MedicalMountains GmbH consortium, Hahn-Schickard Society for Applied Research eV and Furtwangen University with almost 200,000 euros. The notifications were handed over in Stuttgart on June 23.
The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics, Labor and Tourism is funding 16 regional AI labs in Baden-Württemberg with a total of 3.1 million euros as part of the "AI action program for medium-sized companies". The regional sponsors make their own contribution totaling around 1.3 million euros. After a pilot project for regional AI labs, which was initiated in 2019, a new call for funding was launched in February 2022.
"With the KI labs, we want to ensure that economically viable AI solutions are used even faster in order to strengthen the competitiveness of our medium-sized companies," said Economics Minister Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut. “Artificial intelligence is a key technology worldwide. It offers huge potential for value creation and is crucial for the future competitiveness of the economy in the state.
Since April 2020, KIM-Labs - a joint project of MedicalMountains GmbH and the technology network TechnologyMountains eV in cooperation with the Hahn-Schickard-Gesellschaft für applied research eV and Furtwangen University - has been expanding the region's digitization offering. KIM-Labs offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to discover AI innovations in various, mixed-industry institutions and SMEs, to (further) develop and consolidate them in a test environment. KIM-Labs focuses on medical technology, the digitization industry and life sciences. Openness to other sectors is desired and given.
