AI, progress, Tübingen – this sums up the opening of the ELLIS Institute. The week was exciting for the young institute: workshops, symposium and the opening ceremony. Several events took place as part of the Cyber Valley Days, last but not least the opening of the world's first ELLIS Institute here in Tübingen.
Colleagues from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) travelled to Tübingen for the opening. With them came renowned scientists who shared their research, experiences, and insights in a closed workshop. Among the speakers were Turing Award winner Prof. Dr. Yann LeCun, as well as Prof. Dr. Max Welling (CuspAI & University of Amsterdam), Prof. Dr. Sepp Hochreiter (JKU), Dr. Léon Bottou (Meta), and the Scientific Director of the ELLIS Institute Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf along others.
It was a special pleasure to welcome Senator e.h. Dr. h.c. Hans-Werner Hector and Uwe Bleich from the Hector Foundation, who had arrived from Weinheim. In his speech, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf emphasized the friendship between him and Dr. h.c. Hans-Werner Hector and his gratitude for the trust placed in him and the ELLIS Institute. Uwe Bleich, speaking on behalf of the Hector Foundation, highlighted in his speech the various opportunities for scientists at the ELLIS Institute. They allow them to focus on the essentials through fundamental research.
"The support of the Hector Foundation means future-oriented freedom for the ELLIS Institute. Research benefits from the generosity of the Hector spouses and their foundation", explains Volker Maria Geiß, CEO of the ELLIS Institute.
The Hector Foundation supports the institute with 100 million euros over a time span of 10 years. Scientists are provided with state-of-the-art workplaces and an outstanding working environment to conduct the best possible research. With the help of the foundation the ELLIS Institute sees itself able to compete at a global level.
The state of Baden-Württemberg was also represented. Minister of Science Petra Olschowski honoured the young institute and emphasized in her speech the importance of the cohesion between politics and science. Dr. Anna Christmann from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and Tübingen’s Mayor Boris Palmer also spoke about the importance of the ELLIS Institute, not least that of Cyber Valley, for Tübingen and the Stuttgart metropolitan region.
About the ELLIS Institute Tübingen
The ELLIS Institute Tübingen aims to gather the most creative minds to conduct excellent fundamental research in the field of artificial intelligence. As the world's first ELLIS Institute, it is developing into a recognized centre for experts and research, providing state-of-the-art workplaces and very good conditions for conducting research. The institute emerged from the ELLIS network, the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS), which is building a Europe-wide network for research in the field of machine learning.
German Press Release
Find the corresponding German text here.