Fraunhofer IZB is a leader in the development of multimodal AI models, large-scale language models, especially in collaboration with the OpenGPT-X project, and hybrid AI. The focus is on the development of state-of-the-art AI technologies that can process multimodal data — for example text, image, audio, video, 3D and temporal data — and thus enable advanced applications in various fields. This technology and expertise will be offered within WestAI via an AI-on-demand platform and self-services, providing companies and researchers with convenient access to powerful AI resources. Fraunhofer experts also host courses and training programs that provide industry professionals with critical skills in data science and artificial intelligence.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS is one of the leading scientific institutes for AI, machine learning and big data and is shaping the digital transformation of our working and living environment: with innovative AI applications for industry, health and sustainability, with future-oriented technologies such as large AI language models or quantum machine learning, with offers for training and further education or for testing AI applications for security and trustworthiness. As one of four leading partners, Fraunhofer IAIS conducts cutting-edge research at the Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, which4 is permanently funded by the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the German government’s AI strategy. The direct transfer of research results, particularly to SMEs, is ensured by the KI.NRW competence platform, which Fraunhofer IAIS manages as the central networking initiative of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the topic of artificial intelligence.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT focuses on human-centered digital transformation. It applies artificial intelligence and data science methods in various areas, such as healthcare and energy. FIT is linked to RWTH Aachen University via the Bonn-Aachen International Center for Information Technology (b-it) and coordinates the BMBF project FAIR Data Spaces.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Algorithms and Scientific Computing SCAI specializes in numerical simulation, optimization, machine learning and bioinformatics. Its interdisciplinary projects integrate applied mathematics, computer science and software technology with various industries such as the automotive industry, mechanical engineering, pharmaceuticals and others. SCAI is closely networked with the Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Bonn.

The participation in WestAI in the role of a resource and service provider completes the strategy of the AI Center at RWTH Aachen University. As NHR4CES, the RWTH IT Center operates a national HPC service and already offers the functionalities for using computing power for machine learning. A total of four working groups at RWTH Aachen University are contributing their expertise and infrastructure to the project.

The IT Center (ITC), headed by Prof. Matthias Müller, together with FZ Jülich, is providing the basic infrastructural building blocks for training large AI models in WestAI. To this end, the capacities of the ITC’s HPC will be expanded with the necessary GPU hardware as part of the project and low-threshold access will be made possible through the provision of services. To enable WestAI partners to use the resources efficiently, the ITC offers dedicated courses on how to operate the HPC.

The Chair of Computer Science 5, Information Systems and Databases (DBIS) under the direction of Prof. Stefan Decker: Development and provision of services in the areas of “Resource Hub” and “Development Service”, as well as research in the area of “Scalable Data Management”. The chair works closely with the Fraunhofer FIT, which is also headed by Prof. Stefan Decker. The chair and the FIT work on many data space projects, including the European Union’s Dataspace Support Office, Data Space Culture, Gaia-X infrastructure, the NFDI, and many more.  Together with the FIT, the chair thus establishes the connection between AI technologies in WestAI and data spaces in a national and international context.

The Chair of Computer Science 13, Computer Vision Group (CVG) under the direction of Prof. Bastian Leibe: research in the areas of “Pre-training and Scaling”, “Efficient transfer and domain adaptation” and “Domain-specific application”.

The Machine Tool Laboratory (WZL), represented by Prof. Robert Schmitt, is one of the largest production technology institutes in Europe and has a strong industrial focus. In the project, the WZL contributes to the establishment of large AI models and transfers them into dedicated applications. To this end, the WZL develops and implements service processes that contribute to a successful customer experience and offers interested representatives from research and industry individual advice on the application of large-scale AI models. In addition, the WZL monitors the progress and success of the WestAI AI Service Center through the role of Quality Manager on the Steering Board.

In WestAI, the focus of research work is on the audio component for large AI models in order to improve multimodal learning. Innovative approaches are being developed to enable efficient temporal modeling in audio data. The AI models are tested for their ability to generalize and further developed for application-specific model transfer. In addition, techniques for model compression in resource-constrained applications are being researched. The collaboration with WestAI aims to successfully integrate the developed audio components into multimodal learning and make them available via services.