New Junior Professorship of Artificial Intelligence
University of Konstanz secures Junior Professorship of Artificial Intelligence in the framework of the competition “Künstliche Intelligenz Baden-Württemberg (KI-BW)” – funding for a W1-position for six years and additional funds totalling 600,000 euros from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg
The University of Konstanz has been awarded a Junior Professorship of Artificial Intelligence (Künstliche Intelligenz – KI) in the “Künstliche Intelligenz Baden-Württemberg (KI-BW)” competition. Along with the universities of Freiburg, Heidelberg, Hohenheim, Mannheim, Ulm and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), it is one of seven Baden-Württemberg universities that will benefit from the planned expansion of research into artificial intelligence. The new junior professorship straddles the fields of linguistics and philosophy and deals with aspects of machine language comprehension, critical reflection on the actions of artificial agents as well as ethical questions. The successful acquisition of the professorship is accompanied by additional annual funding of 150,000 euros from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg for the first four years after it has been filled.
In total, the state of Baden-Württemberg is providing six million euros to endow ten junior professorships in the field of methods and applications of artificial intelligence (AI). “We are joining forces to make Baden-Württemberg an even stronger AI research location. With the new professorships we are building up competence throughout the country. Whether data evaluation, autonomous driving or Smart Home, industry 4.0 or science – developing artificial intelligence methods and researching their application possibilities is of utmost importance for our society, science and economy”, explains Theresia Bauer, Minister of Science, Research and the Arts.
The new professorships are an important addition to the successful Cyber Valley innovation campus, in which the universities of Stuttgart and Tübingen as well as the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems are involved. This research cooperation, one of the largest in Europe in this field, was launched as part of the country's digitalization strategy, which aims to pool and strategically embed existing initiatives, projects and networks. Through a targeted innovation and investment offensive over the coming years, visions and innovations from the centre of society and industry are to be developed to position Baden-Württemberg as a leader for digital transformation in Germany and Europe. In the current legislative period, a total of approximately one billion euros will be made available for digital transformation in the state of Baden-Württemberg, about half of which will be used to expand its digital infrastructure.
The ten new professorships cover not only the humanities but also agricultural, medical and technical-computational fields of research and application and are scheduled to be filled in 2019. A prerequisite for the funding of 150,000 euros for the first four years from the date of appointment is a contribution of at least 300,000 euros from the University of Konstanz in the fifth and sixth years. The funds will be made available annually on request. The professorship is designed for a period of up to six years.
Key facts:
- University of Konstanz successful in the competition “Künstliche Intelligenz (artificial intelligence) Baden-Württemberg (KI-BW)”
- Funding for a Junior Professorship (W1) of Artificial Intelligence in the field of linguistics and philosophy for six years
- Additional funding from the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg in the amount of 600,000 euros
- Part of the state’s digitalization strategy digital@bw
- Complements the innovation campus Cyber Valley in the Stuttgart/Tübingen area
Press release: No. 01/2019