On 14.12.2023, all members of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig from Leipzig University and TUD Dresden University of Technology and other partner institutions gathered in Leipzig for the 4th and last General Assembly Meeting this year. The aim of the meeting was to discuss joint research topics, new findings and plans for the coming year.

Program of the General Assembly Meeting in Leipzig

After introductory words by Prof. Dr. Erhard Rahm and Prof. Wolfgang E. Nagel, we welcomed Prof. Joachim Denzler from the ELLIS Unit Jena as a guest in our group. He spoke on the topic: Elements of Automatic Monitoring and Understanding of Dynamic Systems. In his presentation he discussed the role of automatic monitoring, understanding, and forecasting in managing complex dynamic systems across various sectors. 

This was followed by presentations by ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig researchers on the following topics:

• Living Lab Presentation (Dr. Siavash Ghiasvand, TUD Dresden University of Technology; Dr. Thomas Burghardt, Leipzig University)
• DD Trust (Oliver Bayer, TUD Dresden University of Technology)
• Nature-Inspired Machine Learning (Dr. Sahar Vahdati, TUD Dresden University of Technology)
• Ternary reformulation of NNs for efficient inference (João Paulo Cardoso de Lima, TUD Dresden University of Technology)
• Generating complex swarm behavior via stigmergic communication by exploiting environmental properties (Tobias Jagla, Leipzig University)
• Abstract expressive Power of First-Order and Description Logics with Concrete Domains (Filippo de Bortoli, TUD Dresden University of Technology)
• Cell-cell communication in melanoma and further steps towards the risk assessment of immunotherapy target combinations with large-scale data sources (Florian Große, Leipzig University)

In the afternoon, colleagues from the individual areas came together in breakout sessions in which results could be presented and discussed in smaller groups. The breakout sessions dealt with the following topics:

• Scalable Architectures
• Scalable Visual Computing
• KR meets the real world
• Life Science & Medicine

We would like to thank all speakers and listeners for their contribution to this successful meeting. Furthermore we want to thank the Sächsische Aufbaubank SAB, whose premises we were able to use.
We are already looking forward to the next General Assembly Meeting in Dresden in the spring, which will give us the opportunity to exchange ideas over two days.