The second After-Work Lounge of the KI-Lab Kurpfalz on June 30th dealt with the topic "Natural Language Processing" (NLP). The hybrid event, which was held at the Business Development Center BDC (Heidelberg) and was also accessible online, was aimed at specialists and managers who want to implement projects in their companies. Start-ups, scientists and innovators interested in artificial intelligence also took part.
Natural Language Processing describes techniques and methods for machine processing of natural language. The basis of NLP are methods of artificial intelligence. The three guest speakers Dr. Sven Koerner, CEO of thingsTHINKING GmbH, Prof. Dr. Michael Gertz, Professor at the Institute of Computer Science at the University of Heidelberg and CTO of Codefy GmbH and Nastasia Knizhnikova, Head of Business Development DACH of Enterprise Bot GmbH, conveyed the basics of NLP to the guests on site. Using case studies, the speakers explained how Natural Language Processing can be used sensibly in companies.
NLP is used in medicine as well as in the legal tech market, for example to classify legal documents such as contracts and law texts. NLP can also be very helpful in e-mail analysis, for example to cluster and automatically forward e-mails.
The format of the second After-Work Lounge at the KI-Lab Kurpfalz is as innovative as the topic itself. It was held as a hybrid event: Interested people could either attend on site at the Business Development Center (BDC) Heidelberg or join in online. A total of more than 20 guests decided to attend the event on site, with around 30 more taking part online. "With this combination of online and on-site event, we were able to combine the advantages of both formats," explained Paul Becker and Eduard Singer, the two coordinators of the KI-Lab Kurpfalz, who were very pleased with the acceptance of the new format.
About the KI-Lab Kurpfalz:
On 27th December 2019, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Employment and Housing announced that it will provide 2.3 million euros in funding for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medium-sized companies through the establishment of regional AI labs. The KI-Lab Kurpfalz is one of 19 regional AI labs that are supported as part of the "Action Program AI for Medium-Sized Businesses" of the state government. The aim of the joint initiative of the Heidelberg Technology Park and bwcon GmbH is to provide small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with low-threshold access to the future technology AI.
The offers and further training programmes of the KI-Lab Kurpfalz can help SMEs to develop the necessary key competences of AI - where they are needed. Data collection, evaluation, analysis and subsequent use require experience and special instruments - the Heidelberg Technology Park will provide these in the form of methods, materials and data in cooperation with bwcon GmbH. This also includes data from the Data X Lab at the University of California, Berkeley.
Further information about the KI-Lab Kurpfalz
"What CEO of the Heidelberg Technology Park, Dr. André Domin, thinks about hybrid events and NLP"
Video on Youtube: