On July 21, 2026, the Living Lab hosted its first event in Dresden as part of the well-established Meetup series. Under the slogan “Meetup goes Dresden,” we welcomed nearly 30 participants to our office building at Strehlener Straße 14.

Meetup Goes Dresden – A Joint Effort

Already established as a successful event format in Leipzig, the meetup targets researchers, students, developers, aspiring entrepreneurs, and companies. Our Living Lab teams from Leipzig and Dresden again worked closely together to establish the meetup format in both locations, bringing added value to the AI community in Saxony. The first meetup in Dresden thus served as a networking event with a well-rounded program, bringing the community together to explore interesting research projects, infrastructure, and collaboration opportunities.

Programme

The meetup started with a welcome of the audience and a quick introduction to ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig by Oliver Welz. During the presentation, participants gained an insight into the research activities and offers for science, industry, and society. He also highlighted how researchers and companies can get in contact with us to explore joint AI project ideas.

Pitch: YETI – Young Entrepreneurs in Tech and Innovation

YETI supports technology-focused startup initiatives and innovative project ideas. During the pitch, Jaden Poppitz showcased the resources, funding opportunities, and networks available to aspiring entrepreneurs, and how an idea can be turned into an initial project or startup. Whether it is research topics, student projects, or ideas from the industry: reach out to the people behind YETI and share your ideas with a young and motivated team.

Introduction: TUD Institute of Natural Materials Technology

Julian Hagert provided insights into the Institute of Natural Materials Technology (INT) at TU Dresden, its current activities and potential connections to data science and AI. The institute focuses on the sustainable use of biological raw materials and the development of innovative processes for bioeconomy. We continued to exchange ideas and discuss potential joint projects afterward. We’ll stay in touch and strive to effectively combine our expertise to carry out joint activities in research as well as in applying AI.

Thesis: Multimodal Approaches for Information Extraction from Industrial Product Labels

Jannes Nitzsche presented his thesis, a collaboration with Telekom MMS that compares various approaches to extracting information in terms of extraction quality, robustness, and processing speed. This collaboration demonstrates a real-world use case for the productive deployment of current AI technologies in an industrial setting. It serves as an example of low-threshold opportunities for industry collaboration and for initiating partnerships – in this case, with Telekom MMS. Theses supervised in collaboration with companies and ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig provide an excellent foundation for our efforts in knowledge transfer, educating the next generation of AI experts, and building on that foundation to foster industry collaborations, such as in R&D projects.

Services, HPC, and Transfer at ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig

Moritz Müller gave an overview of the infrasctructure provided by ScaDS.AI Dresden/Leipzig to researchers, students, startups and companies. He placed particular focus on AI and HPC resources, opportunities for consulting and cooperation, and joint research and transfer projects. Furthermore, he outlined ways in which external partners can gain access to expertise, computing resources, and support for AI applications. Insights into the operation of an HPC cluster – language model clusters in particular – have been in high demand for quite some time, especially when companies want to build their own infrastructure, plan their investments, and determine which use cases can be implemented based on those investments.

OpenLab, Demos, and Networking

At the end of the meetup, we invited all participants to an open exchange and networking session. This led to lively discussions and an interesting exchange of ideas, as well as numerous connections among the various participants.

Meetup Series

With our Meetup series, we offer a platform to present the latest projects and research activities of the AI community. Together, we are exploring opportunities for cooperations in AI and Data Science, strengthening the AI ecosystem in the region. Take the opportunity to discover new perspectives, have inspiring conversations and explore potential collaborations. You can look forward to exciting presentations, interactive demos and workshops. Become a part of this growing community that is actively shaping the future of Artificial Intelligence. Future events are announced here. We are looking forward to meet you!