Interdisciplinarity between Informatics, Economics and Culture. A History of the Heinz Nixdorf Institute

Heinz Nixdorf, one of the biggest names among German computer manufacturers, initiated the foundation of an institute between informatics, business and culture with its commitment to funding in February 1986. The institute was established on 23 July 1987 after both the Federal Republic of Germany and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia each pledged ...

Duration: 02/2025 - 08/2025

ERC SYNERGY GRANT PROJECT: Cultures of the Cryosphere. Infrastructures, Politics and Futures of Artificial Cooling

Artificial cooling fundamentally shapes the world we live in. Since the onset of the Cold War, cooling and freezing technologies have become increasingly vital for a wide array of everyday practices, from nutrition, health and reproduction to dwelling, telecommunication, scientific research and economic productivity. A global system of cold ...

Duration: 09/2024 - 08/2030

Contact: PD Dr. Lisa Knoll, Dr. Martin Schmitt, Dr. Gunnar Schomaker

Regulation meets SMEs: The EU AI Act and it‘s impact on SMEs in OWL

The European Union has committed to the principles of responsible and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI) by requiring mandatory risk assessments for AI systems prior to their deployment. Prior to its introduction, AI-based systems were subject to different jurisdictions under different aspects (e.g. product liability), whereas the AI Act ...

Duration: 08/2024 - 10/2025

TRR 318 - Subproject B6 - Ethics and normativity of explainable AI

Research on explaining and explainability needs ethical reflection, because explanations can be used to manipulate users or to create acceptance for a technology that is ethically or legally unacceptable. Moreover, designing explainability to meet ethical demands (e.g., justifiability, accountability, autonomy) must not necessarily be in line with ...

Duration: 07/2023 - 12/2025

SAIL: SustAInable Life-cycle of Intelligent Socio-Technical Systems

Current systems that incorporate AI technology mainly target the introduction phase, where a core component is training and adaptation of AI models based on given example data. SAIL’s focus on the full life-cycle moves the current emphasis towards sustainable long-term development in real life. The joint project SAIL addresses both basic research ...

Duration: 08/2022 - 07/2026

TRR 318 - Constructing Explainability

In unserer digitalen Gesellschaft nehmen die algorithmischen Ansätze (wie das maschinelle Lernen) rasant an Komplexität zu. Diese erschwert es den Bürger:innen, die Assistenz nachzuvollziehen und die von Algorithmen vorgeschlagenen Entscheidungen zu akzeptieren. Als Antwort auf diese gesellschaftliche Herausforderung hat die Forschung begonnen, ...

Duration: 07/2021 - 06/2025