AI Austria monthly: August'24 Update

Upcoming AI Austria Events, Study on economic impact of AI in Austria, RL Bootcamp, OECD research challenge, European AI Awards, partner events, jobs and more...

Matthias Grabner

Ting Wasner-Lian

, and

Clemens Wasner

Aug 06, 2024

In our latest newsletter you can learn how to fund your AI idea, where to mingle with like-minded people, partner events across Europe and where to find your next job .

🚀 Latest Developments

🐦‍🔥 AAIC - Applied AI Conference 2024

We are happy to announce this year’s edition of our AAIC event series. Together with WKO Aussenwirtschaft we will host the AAIC2024 on October 17th in Vienna. Since 2018, our conferences have attracted more than 10.000 visitors from 100+ countries. Rewatch some of our past events on the AAIC YouTube channel. This year’s conference will showcase AI applications across different verticals, as well as offer a platform for b2b connections. » Save your spot now!

🧮 RL Bootcamp - presented by AI Austria & University of Salzburg

Join us for an exciting Reinforcement Learning Bootcamp in Salzburg, perfect for students, professionals, and enthusiasts with a basic understanding of machine learning. It's free of charge! Learn from leading experts with real-world experience and engage with peers in a collaborative learning environment. Stay ahead of the curve with state-of-the-art techniques and best practices for the latest RL algorithms and tools! » apply now

🏢 AI Austria booth at the Digital Days 2024 "Think Human. Act Digital"

The Digital Days is a joint event of the City of Vienna and DigitalCity.Wien and the digital economy, in cooperation with the Vienna Business Agency and the Vienna Science, Research, and Technology Fund (WWTF).

This year’s event will take place on October 22 - 24 at the Technical Museum Vienna. Our long-term cooperation partner Urban Innovation Vienna offered us to host an AI Austria joint booth to showcase 2 AI Applications. » If you are interested in joining us send us your concept idea

🏆 Call for the European AI Awards 🇪🇺

The European AI Forum is inviting companies to nominate themselves for the European AI Awards! Deadline for application is October 31st, winners will be announced at the upcoming EAIF conference on December 4th. Categories: AI Investor, AI Business, Spinoff & Applied AI, AI Ecosystem Enabler, AI Policy » more info and application

🔍 OPCW Research Challenge

Join the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) AI Research Challenge! Researchers and scientists from all OPCW Member States are invited to propose innovative AI solutions to enhance the OPCW's capabilities in areas such as document analysis, chemical forensics, and medical countermeasures. The goal is to leverage AI to improve the OPCW’s effectiveness, efficiency, and preparedness. This challenge, funded by the EU and the UK, offers up to EUR 65,000 for the top four proposals. Submit your proposals by 9 August 2024. » learn more and apply

📣 Call for applicants: ChatGPT, Copilot: Risks and Benefits

The benefits of using ChatGPT, Copilot and other generative AI platforms are very high. Prof. Michael Bartz started a study at IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems in order to find out which AI use cases are the most beneficial for office workers. He is also looking into the fact that most of us are willing to take on risks when using Generative AI. » Find out about the use cases, benefits and risks, and participate in the study online

💶AI innovation and employment grant for Viennese companies

AI is a key driver of digital transformation, shaping the future of business. However, while 35% of large companies in Austria leverage AI, only 9% of small businesses do. To bridge this gap and foster innovation, the City of Vienna is offering substantial support for SMEs. Applications are open until August 27, 2024 » apply here

💶 Grant for Carinthian SMEs: Digitalize your business with AI

Do you have an innovative project idea in the field of digitalization and need a kickstart? The KI4LIFE SME Digitalization grant from Fraunhofer Austria offers six Carinthian SMEs ten fully funded days of research and development services each year to facilitate entry into innovation projects. Benefit from Fraunhofer Austria's expertise and apply online. The next application round ends on 09/30/2024. » More info and application: KI4LIFE Digitalization Grant.

📚 New study: The economic opportunity of AI in Austria

Google conducted a study on the economic impact of (Generative) AI, a few key take aways: genAI can increase Austria’s GDP by 35 to 40 billion euros in ten years, impacting 2.8 million workers. One-third of Austrian companies expect an increase in productivity through the use of generative AI, with around half of the companies planning to invest in AI over the next five years. » further reading

🔎 EY, Microsoft & WKO team up for AI-supported funding assistant

AI has established itself as an indispensable tool for increasing efficiency in almost all industries. This change is also noticeable in the public sector in Austria.
As the first point of contact for entrepreneurs looking for support, advice and information, the WKO has the clear goal of making life easier for Austrian companies and supporting them in their business challenges. In this endeavour, the WKO, together with Microsoft Austria and Ernst & Young (EY), has decided to use the possibilities of AI and to develop an innovative AI-supported solution for the search for funding. » read more about the project

Partner Events

✈️ Join EXPEDITION KI 3.0 with us

AI Austria is proud to be a community partner for EXPEDITION KI 3.0, taking off on October 15th and 16th at the Vienna Airport Conference & Innovation Center. This event offers a crucial networking opportunity for the DACH region, connecting innovators and leaders from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Germany, our partner country, adds exciting new dimensions to this event with the support of KI Bundesverband. This is a chance to explore practical AI solutions and form partnerships. Use our exclusive ticket code AIAUSTRIAMEMBERKI for a €200 discount. » Register now

🇭🇷 AI Weekend in Croatia Sep. 19.-22. 🏖️

Our friends at CroAI are hosting a special get2together at the end of summer. Imagine a sunny Adriatic coast, great discussions by the sea, networking with experts from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and TikTok, plus many more brilliant startups and innovative companies pushing AI boundaries. It's the perfect blend of business and pleasure!
That’s the atmosphere of AI Weekend, happening this autumn in Rovinj. CroAI has organized a conference that boldly merges AI and the business world, addressing the key questions everyone’s asking: How to implement AI in your business? Build in-house or outsource? What budget and processes are needed? How to ensure AI aligns with company goals and scales effectively?
As friends of the conference, we’ve secured a special ticket offer for our members. Contact us for the details. » For more information, visit ai.weekend.hr.

🇲🇰 The 2nd Edition of the AI Tech Summit Oct. 3.-4.

We're thrilled to announce that the highly anticipated second edition of the AI Tech Summit is set to take place on October 3rd and 4th at the prestigious National Opera and Ballet in Skopje, North Macedonia. As a proud ICT community partner, we invite you to mark your calendars and join us for this groundbreaking event that continues to shape the future of artificial intelligence.

This year's summit promises an even more impressive lineup of speakers, cutting-edge discussions, and innovative showcases. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, industry professional, or simply curious about the future of AI, this is an event you won't want to miss. Here are some highlights from previous events in Skopje and Malaga.

» for more info and tickets check out the event page. Use the promo code Austria@10 to receive a 10% discount

🖌️ Canva Expands AI Reach with Leonardo.ai Acquisition

Canva, a leading online design platform known for its user-friendly graphic design tools, has further expanded its AI capabilities with the acquisition of Leonardo.ai, an AI startup based in Tel Aviv. Leonardo.ai specializes in AI-driven design and creative tools. This acquisition complements Canva’s existing AI expertise in Vienna, Austria, gained from their previous acquisition of Kaleido.ai. This move signifies Canva's commitment to enhancing its AI-driven design offerings, potentially leading to more sophisticated and user-friendly tools for creators worldwide. »Read more here!

🌏 OECD Business Day at OECD Global Strategy Group 2024

Join us at the OECD Business Day side event on October 14, ahead of the OECD Global Strategy Group meeting. This exclusive event offers a platform for business leaders and high-level officials to engage in meaningful discussions about the future of AI and its impact on global economies and societies. Startups and companies can participate in panels, keynote sessions, and networking without the requirement of having a booth. However, if you wish to showcase your AI innovations more directly, booths are available for an additional opportunity. Secure your spot now and be part of shaping the future of AI governance. » more info and registration

✨ Generative AI News ✨

Meta has launched Llama 3.1, including a a 405 billion parameter open-source AI model. Unfortunately, the full multimodal version will not be available in Europe due to the EU's AI Act. This restriction is a significant disadvantage for European startups and developers, who rely on access to cutting-edge open-source models to compete globally.

ICML 2024 in Vienna was a major event in the AI research calendar, showcasing cutting-edge studies. Among the highlights were "VideoPoet," a model for generating videos from text and other media, and "Debating with More Persuasive LLMs Leads to More Truthful Answers," which explored how AI debates enhance accuracy. For a full list of award-winning papers, check the ICML 2024 Awards and also this best paper digest

Germany Freiburg based Blackforest.ai has released Flux, a new AI model that challenges Midjourney and SDXL in the image-generation space. This innovation positions Flux as a significant contender in the realm of AI-driven art and design. of course we had to try it, try yourself here

Generated image - model inference by fal.ai

Kyutai, a Paris-based startup, has launched Moshi, a real-time voice AI developed in just six months. Moshi delivers lifelike, emotionally rich speech with 70 expressions and minimal latency for smooth conversations. Based on Kyutai’s Helium model, it can process and generate audio simultaneously. Moshi will soon be open-sourced, offering developers a new frontier in voice-enabled AI. Try Moshi here.

Stability AI's Stable Fast 3D rapidly generates 3D models from a single image in 0.5 seconds. Built on TripoSR, it's ideal for gaming, VR, and design applications. Available on GitHub and Hugging Face

🌏 Asia spotlight

Kuaishou Technology's Kling AI, a text-to-video generation tool, is now accessible globally. Users can create high-quality videos up to two minutes long at 1080p resolution and 30 fps. The platform is available via the web without regional restrictions, explore Kling AI's features and register here.

The World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) took place in Shanghai, with Chinese companies showcasing significant advances in LLMs, robotics, and other AI-infused products despite U.S. sanctions on advanced chips.

"Hello, Algo" is a popular GitHub project by China-based developer krahets. It offers interactive tutorials on data structures and algorithms, using visualizations and hands-on exercises. The project supports multiple programming languages, making it ideal for both beginners and experienced programmers. Check it out on GitHub.

MetaHuman-Stream is a trending GitHub project that creates real-time 2D video and audio streams of digital humans speaking and moving. The repository, only available yet in Chinese, supports realistic interactions with low latency using Unreal Engine. Check out the project on GitHub.

Introducing one of the most popular Japanese Github Ai repositories: The Voice-Changer by W-Okada is a project enabling real-time voice conversion. It supports platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux, using models like MMVC and so-vits-svc. Users can utilize pre-built binaries or set up Docker/Anaconda environments. Check it out on GitHub

Hong Kong is testing its own ChatGPT-style tool for government use after OpenAI blocked access from unsupported regions.

Squirrel AI’s AI tutor helps students in rural China, adapting to individual needs. The system, used by 24 million students, could make humans '10 times smarter' according to its creator. (the company participated in our AAIC 2019)

In North Korea, hackers have upgraded their operations with generative AI, similar to hackers worldwide. They use AI to enhance phishing attacks, target identification, and vulnerability exploitation. Read more in by this South Korean Institute for National Security Strategy report: Here