HLRS Joins the Smart Data Solution Center

Photo of conference room with audience watching a presentation.
Newly founded as an association, the Smart Data Solution Center participated in the Smart Data Innovation Days 2024 conference, held in Karlsruhe in early November. Photo: SICOS BW

By promoting collaboration among data analytics providers, users, and researchers, this recently established membership organization will support the adoption of data analytics and artificial intelligence technologies in the private sector.

Originally launched as a collaborative project in 2014, the Smart Data Solution Center Baden-Württemberg (SDSC) was created to bring together researchers and representatives of regional small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to accelerate innovation using smart data technologies. Since then, the SDSC has worked with numerous SMEs to help them understand the value of the data they accumulate, and how it can be leveraged for data analytics and artificial intelligence applications.

The SDSC was initiated by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and SICOS BW with the support of a grant from the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Art. Since then, it has successfully grown into a sustainable business model. Earlier this year the organization completed its transformation, and for the first time registered formally as an independently funded membership association.

With the founding of the new association, the High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) has joined the Smart Data Solution Center to support its continuing success. Other founding members include BREOS GmbH, EDI GmbH, iodata GmbH, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), SICOS BW GmbH, SSC-Services GmbH, Validaitor UG, and XPLN GmbH. This network of companies, nonprofits, and research institutes establishes a base that aims to be a focal point for networking the data science community across the state. For HLRS, this means supporting the SDSC community by hosting powerful resources for high-performance data analytics and AI applications and providing technical expertise.

In the future, the SDSC plans to support direct collaboration between industry and leaders in AI research by facilitating strategic partnerships. It will also help SMEs in accessing expert training in data analytics and AI methods, in addition to guidance on legal issues related to data usage. Through these collaborations, the SDSC will document success stories in these cross-disciplinary collaborations that will provide models for other companies to pursue.

On November 4-5 the SDSC introduced the newly founded association to a broader community at Smart Data Innovation Days 2024. Organized in cooperation with the Smart Data Innovation Lab and four national AI service centers, the event brought together representatives of research and industry to discuss potential applications of data analytics and artificial intelligence in the private sector. Visitors could also learn about new developments in computing infrastructure and applications of large language models, and network with experts in the field.

SDSC Membership is open to all companies and academic partners interested in participating in the collaborative development of data science solutions.

— Christopher Williams

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Smart Data Solution Center Baden-Württemberg

Artificial Intelligence at HLRS