On March 20, 2026, a delegation from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Sächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Kultur und Tourismus (SMWK) visited ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig. We had the pleasure of welcoming Engelbert Beyer from BMFTR, and Robert Denk and Antje Fanghänel from SMWK in Dresden.

Program

Introduction

Our directors, Prof. Wolfgang E. Nagel and Prof. Gerik Scheuermann, welcomed the delegation. Their introduction provided an overview on the overall structure and research conducted at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig. Particular emphasis was placed on the hardware resources. Furthermore they spoke on the activities of the Transfer and Service Center and the Living Lab. Our directors also explained how ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig is integrated into the structures of both universities – as a department of the Center for Interdisciplinary Digital Sciences (CIDS) at TU Dresden and as part of the Data Science Center ScaDS.AI Leipzig at Leipzig University.

Scientific Talks

The program continued with talks by selected research areas of our center. Dr. Josefine Umlauft gave an insight into the activities of the topic area Earth and Environmental Sciences. In her talk, she also highlighted the close connection between fundamental research and the application areas. Prof. Martin Weigert shared information on his work in machine-learning-based image analysis for microscopy. He underlined the importance and exceptional opportunities provided by our hardware ressources – an important benefit of working at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig.

Afterwards, Ivan Ivanikov presented the start-up AI-DT that enables protein design and drug discovery teams to run compute-heavy AI workflows on demand. Dr. Claudia Loitsch spoke on the work of her junior research group Needs-Oriented AI-Coaching for Students (NAIC). She explained how AI-powered individual coaching helps students develop the skills they need to succeed in their studies. This also sparked an interesting conversation on digital sovereignty with input from Prof. Lars Bernard (CDIO and Vice-Rector Digitalization and University Development, TU Dresden).

Discussion

The visit was concluded with an open discussion. Topics included the future of our research program, the needs of researchers, and joint activities with the AI competence centers. It was a pleasure to host the BMFTR and SMWK for this open exchange.