HPI and SAP seal new partnership

The Hasso Plattner Institute and SAP, the world's leading provider of AI applications for companies, are intensifying their cooperation. SAP CEO Christian Klein and HPI Managing Director Prof. Tobias Friedrich signed the cooperation agreement as part of the seminar “Trends and Concepts – Artificial Intelligence in a Business Context” on HPI's campus. In the seminar, students, researchers and industry professionals discussed the strategic role of AI in the corporate context and the related technical, economic, political and social challenges.

Keeping pace with the global AI competition

The long-term partnership includes the possibility for HPI students to contribute their own ideas directly through internship programs at SAP. SAP supports the institute, for example, by sponsoring events on forward-looking topics such as research on artificial intelligence. The aim is to jointly intensify the transfer of knowledge between science and industry. In this way, the development of new applications of AI-supported technologies is supported. The cooperation aims to ensure that Europe can keep pace with the global competition in AI research. 

AI in business: smarter, more efficient, more sustainable

During the seminar, HPI students pitched the innovative AI solutions in the field of business applications that they are already working on in close cooperation with industry partners: 

1. Tailor-made offers: In collaboration with the Endress+Hauser sales department, students have developed an application that uses business data and customer feedback to optimize offers and increase the likelihood of closing a contract.
2. Sustainable catering: Together with the Lufthansa Innovation Hub in Berlin, students have been working on the development of an AI-supported tool that accurately predicts food requirements in Business Class on long-haul flights and thus helps to reduce food waste.
3. Error-free assembly line work: An AI system developed by HPI bachelor students aims to help BMW Motorrad employees correctly identify errors during assembly line work and relieve the burden on experts who are usually tasked with identifying errors.
4. Efficient lacquering: Another student project involves working with BMW Motorrad to make the lacquering process more efficient with the help of AI. A web dashboard developed for this purpose is designed to automatically process, visualize and analyze log data from the machines.
5. Optimized stock levels: A data-driven dashboard solution developed by students could also help BMW Motorrad to optimize stock levels of non-serial materials that do not have a standardized ordering and storage strategy – without jeopardizing security of supply. 

AI regulation: between ethics and tech leadership

In addition to the signing of the cooperation agreement and the presentation of HPI students' pitches, the program included several panels. At the policy panel “AI Regulation: Europe's Competitive Edge or Self-Inflicted Handicap?”, SAP CEO Christian Klein, HPI Professor Sandra Wachter and Franziska Weindauer (TÜV AI.Labs) debated with moderator Kim Klebolte (Bitkom e.V.) about how the regulation of artificial intelligence by the EU AI Act will impact Europe's competitiveness.

At the business panel “Creating Business Value from AI - Levers for Impact”, SAP CTO Dr. Philipp Herzig, Dirk Neirinck (Endress+Hauser Group), Xavier Lagardere (Lufthansa Group) and Barbara Burghardt (BMW Group) illustrated how companies are already using AI to combine innovation and efficiency in a discussion with HPI professor and co-director of the HPI d-school Falk Uebernickel, using best-practice examples.

From students to successful entrepreneurs

The university panel “Campus Meets Corporation - Exploring Pathways to Student Success” examined how cooperation between universities and companies can accelerate innovation and produce marketable solutions. Dr. Katharina Schäfer (SAP), Moritz Kippenberger (BMW Group), Nadine Schröder (HPI) and HPI Bachelor student Alicia Cabrejas Leonhardt discussed successful models of cooperation between research and practice with moderator Prof. Jan vom Brocke (University of Münster).

At the start-up panel “From Student to Start-up,” the two successful founders and HPI alumni Dr. Gero Decker (SAP Signavio) and Karina Buschsieweke (Lana Labs) gave exciting insights into how start-ups can thrive in an academic environment and what it takes to turn a university project into a successful company, in conversation with the head of the HPI Engine Dr. Frank Pawlitschek.