Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Diamonds for quantum technology, a test for urinary tract infections and a machine learning method for testing computer games: these three start-ups ideas were announced yesterday as winners of the TUM IDEAward. The day also marked the first-ever presentation of the TUM Deep Tech IDEAward, offered to teams established in other countries that wish to launch their start-up in Munich.

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) has achieved two more victories in the competition for Germany's highest endowed research prize: Prof. Stefanie Jegelka and Prof. Suvrit Sra have each been honored with an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Up to now both researchers have been working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). TUM thus becomes the only German university to have successfully acquired ten Humboldt professorships.

Obesity, diabetes and gastrointestinal cancer are frequently linked to an unhealthy diet. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for this are hitherto not fully understood. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich have gained some new insights that help to better understand this connection. These findings provide an important basis for the development of new, non-invasive therapies.

OroraTech, a startup formed at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), is preparing to launch a fleet of small satellites. They will use infrared cameras to detect temperature anomalies at high temporal and spatial resolutions. With the data, the young entrepreneurs want to localize forest fires quickly and track their spread in real time. The start-up is this year's winner of The Spark – The German Digital Award which is awarded by the daily newspaper Handelsblatt and the management consultancy McKinsey.

The Indy Autonomous Challenge was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday – a race completely without drivers. Nine teams from universities around the world competed against one another with race cars controlled using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Technical University of Munich (TUM) team made the best time with an average speed of 218 kilometers per hour. That won the young researchers first place and a cash prize of one million US dollars.

Computer Science researcher Dmitrii Usynin is working towards a doctorate at TUM and the renowned Imperial College London. He is among the first cohort enrolled at the Joint Academy for Doctoral Studies (JADS) established by the two universities, which is researching a variety of subjects in the area of “Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare and Robotics“. In our interview, Dmitrii Usynin talks about his work in two different scientific cultures and two different cities.

A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has been working in the Providentia and Providentia++ projects to equip busy roads with advanced sensor technology. With artificial intelligence (AI), the data are digitally twinned to create a model of the real-world traffic situation. In this interview project leader Alois Knoll, a professor of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Embedded Systems, explains the underlying vision – and what needs to be done to keep pace with the future of digital mobility.

In the future AI will affect nearly every area of our lives. What policy developments can be expected in Germany over the next four years to lay the groundwork for these technologies? A team working with Prof. Stefan Wurster has investigated the electoral platforms of the parties represented in the Bundestag. In this interview the political scientist explains which parties emphasize the opportunities, which ones tend to see the risks, and also where the platforms have significant gaps.

The proteins of SARS-CoV-2 play key roles in how the virus manages to evade immune defense and replicate itself in patients’ cells. An international research team – with significant contribution from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) – has now compiled the most detailed view of the virus' protein structures available to date. The analysis employing artificial intelligence methods has revealed surprising findings.

Using a new machine learning algorithm, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has succeeded in analyzing complex markets and their equilibrium strategies. Until now, such analyses were limited to very simple auction markets. The new numerical method opens up new possibilities for economic theory and new applications as in wireless spectrum auctions, among others.