From Thursday, 14.09.2023, to Friday, 15.09.2023, the team of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig met for the PI Retreat and the third General Assembly Meeting of 2023. This year, both events were held at the hotel Ramada by Wyndham Dresden. As always, colleagues from TUD Dresden University of Technology, Leipzig University and our non-university partner institutions got together to discuss a broad range of topics regarding the present and future of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig.

PI Retreat

On Thursday, 14.09.2023, around 40 principal investigators (PI) of our center got together for the PI Retreat. We invited all of our PIs to the outskirts of Dresden to discuss current research directions in a calm and scenic environment. Besides updates from our 5 main research areas, a variety of topics were discussed. For example, this included:

• General Strategy of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig
• Status and Development of our Graduate School
• Research Program and Criteria

General Assembly Meeting

Following the PI Retreat, all team members of ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig were invited to join the General Assembly Meeting on Friday, 15.09.2023. More than 140 participants took the opportunity to listen to a variety of research-related talks. As always, there was also time for a breakout session, where the team members could discuss more specific topics in smaller groups:

• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Fine-Tuning of Foundation Models
• Responsible AI

After that, there was room for a poster session with around 20 posters that were presented. Hereafter, we invited everyone to participate in a World Café, which allowed for a more open discussion of the following topics:

• Community
• General Assembly Meeting
• Living Lab
• Corporate Design
• Society and Ethics

Last but definitely not least, our PhD candidates gave an overview of their research projects. Of course, administrative topics were also discussed during the course of the program. Once again, it was a wonderful General Assembly Meeting, where team members were able to engage in interesting conversations while meeting old as well as new colleagues from both locations in person.