AI innovation park in Baden-Württemberg: the winner is clear

• OfJulia Thielen

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  Lisa Klein

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Artificial intelligence is becoming more and more important. Baden-Württemberg is planning an AI innovation park. Now the location should be clear.

Update, 24. July: It had been known for a long time that Heilbronn would be considered as a possible location for a multi-million dollar future project. Now the jury of experts seems to have actually decided to set up an innovation park for artificial intelligence (AI) in the city on the Neckar. Several media report this unanimously.

On Tuesday, the cabinet of the state government in Stuttgart should be loud Heilbronn voice deal with the subject. In the vote of the expert jury, Heilbronn would have received eight votes beforehand and thus apparently beaten the other location candidates by far. A consortium from Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Neckar-Alb (two votes) was evidently just as little a favorite as Ulm, the Ostalbkreis or Freiburg.

AI innovation park in Baden-Württemberg: the winner is clear

As the Baden’s latest news, the badish newspaper and the Swabian daily newspaper reported, is already named in the template for the cabinet meeting Heilbronn as the winner of the tender. This means that Käthchenstadt would be awarded a two-digit million amount in government support.

The money is to flow into the construction of an AI campus (see also first report from July 15, editor’s note). In the innovation park, scientists, companies and investors should be able to work closely together and under the best possible conditions. In any case, Baden-Württemberg is considered the region with the highest innovation potential in the EU. The state parliament released a total of 50 million euros for the project in December.

Heilbronn as a possible location: Innovation park for artificial intelligence planned

First report, July 15th: The topic of artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a dream of the future, but has already arrived in our everyday lives. Artificial intelligence can be found in our smartphones, cars and medicine. The southwest is considered the region with the highest innovation potential and Baden-Württemberg would like to use this to further develop AI. The state is planning an innovation park for artificial intelligence – but the decision on a location is still pending. In addition to Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, Heilbronn is also in the running and has shown great interest.

The reason for the delay in the decision on the location of the KI campus in Baden-Wuerttemberg: The CDU-led Ministry of Economics has not kept two promised dates for a decision – now the authority informed at the request of the German Press Agency (dpa) with, at least if possible before the summer break of the cabinet at the end of July, clarity should prevail. A jury of experts has meanwhile made a “clear recommendation”. On this basis, the green-black state government should now take a decision.

AI campus soon in Heilbronn? Decision is delayed

At the end of last year, Economics Minister Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) said that in the best case scenario, the decision could be made before the state elections in mid-March. But that came to nothing, just like a plan expressed by the ministry in April according to which a winner in the month-long process should be announced in the second quarter of 2021. But the second quarter has now passed and a decision is still pending.

The ministry now split up dpa-Inquiry that it was a large project, it was “obvious” that the decision would “only be made after the formation of the new state government”. Later, the “scheduling and organization” of a virtual jury meeting with participants from different countries and time zones led to “certain delays”.

Artificial intelligence campus – Heilbronn is a possible location

In essence, the procedure is about which region should receive a double-digit million amount in government support for the construction of such an AI campus. Scientists, companies and investors should be able to network in the park and work under the best possible conditions.

The ministry started the competition process in December after the state parliament had released 50 million euros for the project. The Ministry does not provide any information on the number of applicants. It is known, however, that the Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Neckar-Alb regions – including Tübingen – participated in the tender with a joint initiative, as did Heilbronn.

It is not known whether Heilbronn was named in the expert jury’s “clear recommendation” as the location for the innovation park for artificial intelligence. So it remains to be seen whether Heilbronn will soon become a small science town.

Artificial intelligence as a path to success – high innovation potential in BaWü

In an EU comparison, Baden-Württemberg is still the region with the highest innovation potential in 2020. The southwest is ahead of Bavaria (2nd place) and the French capital region Ile de France (3rd place), as the State Statistical Office announced in April 2021. Starting from an already high level, the innovation potential in the southwest developed with a comparatively stable, upward trend.

Inventiveness and innovations have always been the key to success in Baden-Württemberg,

In order to keep the innovation dynamic at this high level and to accelerate it further, the strengths would have to be further developed and expanded, it said. In addition to Industry 4.0, hydrogen applications and electromobility, this also includes the topic of artificial intelligence.

List of rubric lists: © Sven Hoppe / dpa / dpa-tmn

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