Bosch is currently in talks with the city of Tübingen regarding the purchase of a plot of land measuring around 12,000^m2 on which the campus is to be built. The new research complex is scheduled to open at the end of 2022. Around 700 experts will work on application-oriented AI there in the future. "Bosch aims to be a world leader in industrial AI research," said Bosch board of management member and CDO/CTO Dr. Michael Bolle. "The new 'Bosch AI Campus' will bring us another step closer to this goal."

Space for start-ups and intensive exchange

"Experts from the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI) from Bosch divisions and start-ups will work together in the new building. The campus structure will significantly strengthen the exchange," says Dr. Michael Bolle, Bosch.

© Robert Bosch

The 'Bosch AI Campus' is to be built in Tübingen in close proximity to the research buildings of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the AI Research Building of the University of Tübingen. In addition to laboratories and office space, it will also contain areas where start-ups and external research groups in the field of AI can temporarily set up shop. Freely accessible areas on the first floor of the new campus will also promote the exchange of experts in Cyber Valley. Parts of the campus will also be open to the public.

Bosch is a founding member of 'Cyber Valley', which was launched in 2016. In this research cooperation, partners from industry, science and politics join forces to advance AI research in Baden-Württemberg. The aim is to quickly transfer findings from basic research into concrete industrial applications. "High-performance centers like Cyber Valley are important. They make Germany even more interesting for top experts in the field of AI and strengthen our position in international competition. The "Bosch AI Campus" contributes to strengthening the international appeal of Baden-Württemberg as an AI location," says Bolle.

Industry on Campus' professorships

Bosch is researching AI that is safe, robust and explainable. The investment in the new 'AI Campus' is a further step by the company to strengthen AI research in 'Cyber Valley': since last year, Professor Matthias Hein has held the Bosch-funded endowed professorship at the University of Tübingen. The company also holds two 'Industry on Campus' professorships, with which the university integrates experts from the industrial environment into research and teaching in a practical way. Bosch's 'Industry on Campus' professorships focus on issues in the run-up to industrial application. One example is predictive diagnostics, which can be used to predict the failure of a machine long before the defect actually occurs. Prolonged machine downtime can be avoided through timely maintenance. Predictive diagnostics is an example of machine learning, which is the focus of research at the BCAI. The BCAI currently has around 200 employees at a total of six locations in Germany, the USA, India and Israel.

Details on the BCAI

The Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI) was founded on January 1, 2017. Bosch will invest a total of around 300 million euros in the BCAI by 2021. The center's research focus is on machine learning, i.e. the recognition of patterns and correlations and the exploitation of the resulting findings. The BCAI is already one of the best of its kind internationally: "In terms of scientific publications, the BCAI is already one of the world's leading research institutions for artificial intelligence in an industrial environment just two years after it was founded," says Christoph Peylo, Head of the BCAI. We can see that we are addressing application-oriented topics that are also relevant for research. Bosch has thus arrived in the AI community and is recognized as a player."

Focus on young talent and basic research

In addition to the ongoing search for young AI specialists for its own organization, the BCAI has launched the Bosch Young Researcher Award, a competition for outstanding achievements in artificial intelligence (AI) research. With prize money of 50,000 euros, the award recognizes young researchers who contribute to safe, robust and comprehensible AI. The 'Bosch Young Researcher Award' was announced at AI CON 2018 and will be presented for the first time this year.

Bosch is also supporting the basic research of Frank Hutter, Professor of Machine Learning at the Faculty of Engineering in Freiburg, with around 6.4 million euros until the end of 2022 as part of a new collaboration. Hutter is regarded worldwide as one of the co-founders of research into automated machine learning (AutoML).

The BCAI is also the main sponsor of the new national 'Artificial Intelligence' competition, under the patronage of Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Winfried Kretschmann. It is organized by 'Cyber Valley'. The aim is to introduce pupils from the 9th grade onwards to the topic of AI in a fun way.