Focus on Industrial AI: First Munich Management Colloquium at TUM Campus Heilbronn

• Exchange on strategic, technical, and organizational requirements for the use of Industrial AI.
• Contributions from science and business practice on digital sovereignty, responsibility issues, and data infrastructures.
• Presentation of various application examples, including cloud infrastructures, elevator systems, and energy supply for data centers.

At the first Munich Management Colloquium (MMK) in Heilbronn, representatives from business and science discussed the framework conditions for the use of Industrial AI. Topics included digital sovereignty, organizational requirements, and responsibilities in the use of AI. Participants presented practical examples from various industries. In addition, scientific approaches to energy efficiency, data processing, and modeling were explained. The colloquium took place as part of a one-day program at Bildungscampus Heilbronn.

Digital sovereignty and strategic decisions

Dr. Ricarda Engelmeier, CEO of the Munich Management Colloquium, referred in her introduction to existing learning processes in dealing with AI technologies. Gerd Chrzanowski, general partner of the Schwarz Group, emphasized the importance of an independent digital infrastructure and referred to corresponding investments made by the company since 2017. With regard to geopolitical developments, he described digital sovereignty as a key prerequisite for organizations capable of acting. His message was: “I really hope that this is a wake-up call for Europe.”

Time and again, the issue is about taking action. But how? Prof. Ali Sunyaev, Vice President of TUM Campus Heilbronn, therefore asked: “What do small and medium-sized enterprises need?” Max Meister, startup founder and co-managing director of Ludwig Meister GmbH & Co. KG, gave the honest answer a little later: “Staying power.”

Luise Pufahl, Professor of Information Systems at TUM Campus Heilbronn, used the example of an elevator failure to explain the complexity of networked technical systems and noted: “I would have liked to have had AI there.” Matthias Gohl, CDO of TK Elevator, then presented further developments in the field of electromagnetically operated elevator systems that enable vertical and horizontal movements independently of each other.

Scientific approaches to energy and hardware efficiency

Hartwig Anzt, Professor of Computational Mathematics at TUM Campus Heilbronn, together with Prof. Andrew Grimshaw, presented considerations on the use of older hardware in data centers that could be powered by surplus wind power. The stability of the power grid is crucial in this context. Anzt pointed to the potential for analysis using AI methods and graph theory.

In the field of financial forecasting, AI models have been developed in Germany at SAP and the University of Freiburg, among others. These serve as examples of independent developments in the European context.

Exchange formats and program items

The colloquium included masterclasses, lectures, discussions, and a Speakers Corner. Around 500 participants chose between parallel program items. Ulrich Korus from software provider Dataiku said: “I am delighted with the density and depth of information on offer here.”

A joint bus format (“Rolling Campus”) was organized for the journey, during which professional exchanges already took place. In his presentation, Prof. Horst Wildemann, founder of the Munich Management Colloquium, referred to an earlier encounter with Porsche board member Albrecht Reimold: “I met him 30 years ago as a ‘specialist in bending aluminum sheets’.”