AI Lab

FS Blog

The AI Lab belongs to the AI Initiative at Frankfurt School and shows the university's commitment to this topic. It is the home for artificial intelligence and digital transformation at FS. Here, innovation-oriented and collaborative students, employees, faculty members and partners come together. The AI Lab is a hub for projects and topics within AI, ranging from Machine Learning and Deep Learning to image recognition and natural language processing. From internal digitalisation projects to external tech events, the AI Lab offers a designated space for open and collaborative learning and working, both on a department level and institution wide.

Aims

The overall aims of the AI Lab are

to sustainably advance Frankfurt School’s digital transformation
to position FS as a centre for AI and Data Science through partnerships within the business sector and the community
to connect with and have an impact on the local community with regard to AI related topics

Mehr Weniger

The AI Lab provides a space where new learning concepts can be developed, tested, and immediately implemented into the teaching programme. There is room for creativity and experimentation with new formats and methods of working. Digitalisation options and business ideas can be promoted and developed. Through cooperation with partners from the regional Tech Community as well as from the business sector, the AI Lab offers a wide range of opportunities for teaching, research and intensive knowledge transfer.

AI Lab

Grand Opening Jan. 29th, 2019

During the Grand Opening, a presentation about the current state of artificial intelligence will be shown, showcasing the stunning advances in some fields and surprising fails in others. Meanwhile, participants will have the opportunity to engage in a Turing test, demonstrating just how indistinguishable art fully made up by artificial intelligence is, when compared to human made art. Participants will be presented with

a series of questions on the two pictures,
as well as poems,

and they will have to identify the one created by artificial intelligence.

To the quiz

Events

Events at the AI Lab are an excellent opportunity for businesses to meet FS students, and professors and exchange ideas about artificial intelligence. Simultaneously, it is a great way for students to get to know businesses, the local AI community and to gain hands-on experience. For FS employees, events at the AI Lab are an excellent way to gain knowledge and skills to foster the digital transformation of the organisation.

Examples

Hack@Lab with Deloitte – Partner Hackathon

As a new learning format this one-day hackathon was an event for knowledge transfer, career building and networking with the tech community and students from different institutions. Students who know how to handle complex algorithms and are used to management questions worked in teams to solve real-world problems with Data Science methods. It was their goal to deal with questions concerning electromobility as well as the financial industry.

“…if you are wondering what a Hackathon is, just remember that it is something you wouldn’t like to miss if you want to practice your knowledge, meet interesting people, do coding, learn about current challenges, see real business issues, and network with a potential future employer.”

Zakariya Abu-Grin, Master in Applied Data Science Class of 2020

The winning Team

Zakaria Abu Grin, Erik Lehmann, Laura Sophie Mina and Haowei Shi together with Deloitte representative David Thogmartin (from left to right)

Four FS students (above) won with a presentation about future financial products. With their idea, the winning team suggested a personalised service based on deep learning to create an optimal customer experience for millennials and digital natives.

AI Applied – Half day conference hosted by SAS

External participants, FS students and FS staff took the chance to discuss questions such as: How can AI be applied in the corporate world? And to what extent does it impact a company’s operating business?

Gergely Szertics: The future has begun - where are we in the AI journey?

Mehr Weniger

Registered Participants

External Professionals	54%
FS Students	38%
FS Staff	5%
Others	3%

Speakers

Gergely Szertics, Business Partner - AI Initiative, Frankfurt School
Dr. Andreas Becks, Head of Pre-Sales Insurance DACH, SAS
Dr. Gerhard Svolba Advisory Solutions Architect, SAS

Event page: KI clever umsetzen - Praxis, Prozesse, Ethik

Mapping the Cryptocurrency Market - Blockchain Workshop

During this interactive session, Luca Frignani from Frankfurt School Blockchain Center explained blockchain basics, analytical methods to uncover identities of bitcoin addresses and how to classify crypto assets.

Luca Frignani with Students of the Master in Applied Data Science

Mehr Weniger

The participants - all of them FS students - were asked to map the cryptocurrency market. used their Python skills for exploratory data analysis of the crypto space and to quantify effects of token classification.

„An inter-connected economy where transactions are stored on blockchains can turn into a real treasure trove for Data Scientists.”

Luca Frignani, Frankfurt School Blockchain Center

Vahe Andonians
Senior Lecturer, AI Lab Knowledge Lead

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

"The basic idea of any laboratory is to question the status quo and push knowledge forward, for which a high degree of flexibility is necessary. With the FS AI Lab, we have pushed barriers and created an incredibly versatile canvas to accommodate any kind of research around AI."

Vahe Andonians, Senior Lecturer, AI Lab Knowledge Lead

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management

Sponsoring Opportunities

All events and activities at the AI Lab are open for sponsorship. Below you can find the basic engagement opportunities.

Recruitment

Workshops – guest lectures with FS students
Data sets and permission to use locally
Hackathons

Employee development

Join workshops held in 2019

Exposure and client acquisition

Data sets for research and publication.
Sponsor GPU units featured in the AI Lab

Company partnerships

Real business world connections are invaluable for our students and professors. There are a wide variety of ways for companies to get involved with the AI Lab.

Students

Classroom
Research
Collaboration
Career opportunities
Real business use cases
Networking

Partners

Attracting and recruiting young talents
Research partnerships with professors
Promoting and testing technology
Innovation and business use cases
Sponsoring opportunities
Increasing brand awareness

Faculty

Research
Teaching
Research set-ups
Mentoring
Meeting cooperation partners
Community building

Staff

Development
Digital transformation projects
Developing new business ideas
Workshops
Creative collaboration
Networking

Hardware got marginalized in the last ten years. Artificial Intelligence use cases with low latency requirements or data security considerations are bringing hardware back. Here at the AI Lab, we have also state-of-the-art computers for learning and inference. The open-hardware design is further underlining the strategy of flexibility.

The Venue

The latest GPUs for AI acceleration

The AI Lab is a 260m² place, equipped with four high end computers using the latest GPUs for AI acceleration. Additionally, TPUs can be rented for peak demand. The 75” mobile touch screens and an additional router allow smooth collaboration and presentations. 80m² whiteboards and a huge set of LEGO serious play stand by for analogue creative work.