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03/19/2021 | Pressemitteilung

Future Center for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Production Work

The rapid pace of digital change is challenging SMEs and their employees. To ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remain capable of connecting in the future, the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) has launched a funding program for regional AI (artificial intelligence) centers of the future. Its focus is on the participatory and human-centered design, introduction and use of digital technologies.

Image: Department of Human-Machine Systems Engineering at the University of Kassel.
Human-robot collaboration and augmented reality in the lab.

The University of Kassel, together with the Scientific Center for Information Technology Design (ITeG) and six other partners, is establishing the regional future center for human-centered AI in production work, "ZuKIPro", in Hesse as part of the BMAS funding program. Based on the analysis of region-specific support needs, it will in future offer various consulting services and innovative teaching and learning concepts for qualification in the subject areas of digitization and AI. SMEs in the manufacturing and skilled trades in Hesse and their employees are to benefit from this free offering in the long term and be enabled to better master the hurdles of digital transformation.

The ITeG's Human-Machine Systems Engineering department is setting up a laboratory as part of the platform module. There, the topics of digitization and AI will be presented with demonstrators and "best practice" examples in the context of consulting and teaching-learning concepts and can be experienced directly. The ITeG subjects of business informatics and communications technology are anchored primarily in the AI introduction module, which is intended to create low-threshold access to the topic. To this end, SMEs are supported in the participatory, co-creative introduction and human-centered design of AI systems.

Regional expertise for Hessian SMEs

The ZuKIPro Future Center will create a practice-oriented format for consulting, qualification, testing and diffusion of digital technologies. It is intended to promote participatory work and technology design and enable SMEs to tap the potential of digital technologies in work and business processes. In addition, ZuKIPro is to act as a neutral contact and transfer point for SMEs, funding agencies, technology providers and social partners. In order to provide regionally and locally optimized services, a total of three offices will be set up. These offices will bundle the services and competencies of the participating project partners and make them available in the individual parts of the state: For North Hesse in Kassel, and also in Frankfurt a. M. and in Darmstadt.

Seven project partners with a common goal

The entire consortium behind the ZuKIPro Future Center includes scientific research institutes, chambers, associations and societies that, together with a network of associated partners, pursue the goal of advancing digital development with a focus on AI in SMEs:

  • Machine Tool Laboratory WZL of RWTH Aachen University - Chair of Production Metrology and Quality Management (coordinator) and Chair of Manufacturing Process Technology.
  • University of Kassel - Scientific Center for Information Technology Design (ITeG) with the departments of Human-Machine Systems Engineering, Business Informatics and Communication Technology
  • German Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) - Smart Service Engineering research group
  • Darmstadt University of Technology - Institute for Work Science
  • Institute for Technology and Work
  • IHK Kassel-Marburg and IHK Hessen-Innovativ
  • Regional Management Nordhessen GmbH

The strategy of the ZuKIPro Future Center is to establish and make accessible a large Hesse-wide network with partners from local, regional and national organizations, initiatives and associations. In particular, the combination of technological, occupational science and socio-political expertise and experience in transfer distinguishes this unique network in Hesse. The supraregional project staffing with partners from North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland also aims to achieve close networking with the other Future Centers in order to exploit synergies and continuously develop the offering.

In the current funding phase, the Future Center will run until the end of 2022, after which it is planned to continue the project until 2027. The free ZuKIPro offering will be available to interested companies during the third quarter of this year.

The ITeG is still looking for research assistants for the ZuKIPro project:
https://www.uni-kassel.de/go/zukipro

 

Contact:

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ludger Schmidt
University of Kassel
Scientific Center for Information Technology Design (ITeG)
Department 15 - Mechanical Engineering
Head of Department Human-Machine Systems Engineering
Tel.: 0561 804 2704
E-mail: L.Schmidt[at]uni-kassel[dot]de

Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister
University of Kassel
Scientific Center for Information Technology Design (ITeG)
Department 7 - Economics
Head of Department Business Informatics
Tel. 0561 804 6064
E-Mail: Leimeister[at]uni-kassel[dot]de

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus David
University of Kassel
Scientific Center for Information Technology Design (ITeG)
Department 16 - Electrical Engineering/Computer Science
Head of Communications Technology
Tel. 0561 804 6314
E-mail: Klaus.David[at]comtec.eecs.uni-kassel[dot]de