Applicable IT knowledge and practical solutions – that was the promise made to guests at the 16th IT Congress in Neu-Ulm | Ulm. In addition to experts from HNU, representatives from companies in the region and far beyond gave practical presentations on the four main topics. Between presentations, participants used the time for personal exchanges and networking.
Prof. Dr. Jens Kolb, Vice President for Transfer and Continuing Education at HNU, Martin Bendel, First Mayor of the City of Ulm, and HNU Prof. Dr. Philipp Brune, initiator of the IT Congress, welcomed the audience. "Three full lecture halls and a record number of guests show that AI and cybersecurity are hot topics and that there is a huge need for exchange in this area," said Prof. Dr. Jens Kolb. Martin Bendel added: "Today is a good day for Ulm/Neu-Ulm as a business location. You are all here today to make it even more future-proof." Prof. Dr. Philipp Brune also wished the participants an exciting day with good discussions and useful insights.
Keynote: Trust in the age of AI: Cybersecurity as a cornerstone of the digital future
Benjamin Gnahm, Managing Director of Smart Cyber Security GmbH, then spoke about trust in the age of AI. In his presentation, he addressed questions such as "How is AI changing the architecture of digital security?" and "What political and ethical framework conditions does a resilient society need?" He illustrated, for example, the development of passwords from two-factor or multi-factor authentication to password managers and now also password managers including digital security codes. The bottom line of the presentation: trust is not a soft skill, but a technical and strategic value.
The independent and non-commercial Ulm radio station Radio free FM broadcast the keynote speech live from the lecture hall.
Masterclasses: Hands-on KI
For the first time, masterclasses were also held as part of the IT Congress, allowing participants to delve deeper into topics such as "AI without code in specialist areas" and "Designing interoperable AI". In the masterclass "Hands-on AI: From the basics to your own use cases", for example, HNU professor Dr Daniel Schallmo showed how to go from being interested to becoming an active user. In the masterclass "Ready for AI: Safe and intuitive with Copilot", Sebastian Mayr, Microsoft Cloud & AI consultant at fly-tech IT GmbH, explained how Microsoft Copilot can be used to optimise business processes.
IT trade fair
Twenty-five companies and institutions from the regional and national IT landscape presented themselves at the trade fair, which took place simultaneously in the foyer of the HNU. The HNU's technology transfer centres, which focus on data analytics and artificial intelligence (Günzburg) and smart production and logistics (Leipheim), were also represented with a stand. In addition, the HNU Centre for Continuing Education (ZfW) provided information about its programmes in the fields of IT and AI. In addition to discussions about IT trends, employers and employees also had the opportunity to engage in conversation with each other.
About the IT Congress
Current and future IT trends are the focus of the Neu-Ulm | Ulm IT Congress, which takes place annually at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences. With the aim of presenting applicable IT knowledge and implementable solutions, the symposium is aimed at company representatives from all industries, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as university staff, students and other interested parties. The IT Congress has been held annually in November since 2010 and now regularly attracts numerous participants to Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences. The IT Congress is organised by Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Ulm University of Technology and the Ulm/Neu-Ulm Urban Development Association in cooperation with regional companies and with the support of the Swabian and Ulm Chambers of Industry and Commerce (IHK).
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