28.02.2025: 9:00 - 15:30

Register here for the whole industry day (Friday). Participation in session 2 (14:00 - 15:30) is free and does not require registration in advance.

Keynote
Roland Weiss & Benedikt Schmidt: Software engineering of industrial systems for critical infrastructure - past, present, and future

Audimax-2, Building 30.95, 09:15 - 10:25

Building and maintaining industrial systems comes with a unique set of challenges. They have to live over extended periods of time, meet stringent reliability and safety standards, have to deal with budgets in low-margin industries, and need to adapt to modern expectations on ease- of-use and fast innovation. In this keynote, we will elaborate on how ABB deals with these competing forces. First, we introduce ABB and the systems we are delivering to our customers, including the typical lifecycle phases they go through. Second, we reflect on the last 2 decades of industrial research that has been conducted to support the product development units. Third, we show the fundamental shifts these systems are going through right now and highlight challenges we face as practitioners. Finally, we conclude with an example of an application that leverages ML/AI to elevate the operator prowess and a look under the hood of the development of this application.

Vita: Dr. Benedikt Schmidt is a key driver of ABB's process automation activities towards autonomous operations, working as product owner for the Augmented Operator portfolio and Senior Principal Engineer. He joined ABB in 2015, focusing on research and development of ABB's data analytics practices and bringing them to our products. Before joining ABB, Benedikt worked at SAP's research center. He holds a PhD from Technical University of Darmstadt.
Dr. Roland Weiss globally leads ABB's process automation R&D activities, covering a portfolio of control and IO hardware, embedded and safety systems, DCS automation software as well as IIoT middleware and applications. He joined ABB in 2005 and has held various R&D management positions, focusing on research on and development of ABB's automation systems in markets including power generation as well as robot and industrial automation. As part of a dedicated task force, he contributed to kick-starting ABB’s Digital unit. Before joining ABB, Roland Weiss headed a research team in the area of Formal Methods at University of Tübingen. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from University of Tübingen.

Session 1

SR A+B, Building 30.95

Synthetic Data and Small Language Models: Privacy-Optimized AI for Electric Vehicles

11:00 - 11:45 - Alexandra Wins & Benedikt Heidrich (Mercedes-Benz)

As electric vehicles become more software-centric, AI-driven features increasingly shape the driving experience—from adaptive navigation to proactive diagnostics—yet they often rely on vast amounts of sensitive data. In this session, we will explore two complementary strategies to address these challenges: first, how synthetic data generated or augmented via Large Language Models and statistical methods empowers developers to train, fine-tune, and validate automotive systems without exposing real user information. Second, we will examine how Small Language Models (SLMs) can serve as function-calling agents in vehicles, offering a flexible and robust alternative to traditional rule-based systems. By applying compression techniques such as pruning, healing, and quantization to architectures like Microsoft’s Phi-3 mini, these compact models fit within hardware constraints yet retain the capacity to handle complex tasks efficiently. Together, these approaches pave the way for personalized yet privacy-compliant innovations that accelerate development in the evolving electric vehicle landscape.

Moving Towards AI Operational Readiness: A Practical Enterprise Transformation

11:45 - 12:30 - Tobias Velke (DATEV), Wolfgang Frank (arconsis)

Scaling AI from a prototype level to an enterprise solution involves complex challenges. This talk will share practical insights on how to navigate the journey of transforming a large company towards AI Operational Readiness (AIOR). We will discuss critical aspects such as strategic technology choices and organizational alignment. Drawing from our experience, we will offer real-world examples of overcoming hurdles in scaling AI, focusing on the broader scope of enterprise transformation. Attendees will gain actionable insights into balancing technology choices, managing sensitive data, building cross-functional teams, and establishing strong governance—all essential steps in making AI a reliable and valuable asset across the organization.

Vita: Tobias Velke is leading the AIOR program at DATEV, focused on bridging technological and organizational gaps and responsible for providing an end-to-end perspective to achieve AI operational readiness across the organization. Wolfgang Frank is an executive partner at arconsis with extensive experience in consulting IT organizations for complex and challenging endeavors. He specializes in delivering strategic and platform architectural perspectives on AI@Scale initiatives.

Session 2

SR A+B, Building 30.95

AI Survival Guide (Software Developer Edition): How Not to Get Fooled by AI

14:00 - 14:45 - Rüdiger zu Dohna (codecentric AG)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made immense progress in recent years that no one could have foreseen, and it is sustainably changing the working world, including in software development. Although this leap has already passed, it has triggered investments of unimaginable magnitude, so there will continue to be great progress. An end is only in sight when energy costs are higher than the costs of paying people with comparable skills.

The lecture raises central questions: If AIs can already replace new talents at the beginning of their careers, how can young talent in the software industry be promoted? Is it sensible to use terms like “reasoning” to describe cognitive processes in AIs? Or does this lead too much to humanizing and elevating the technology, and thus to new fears and uncertainties? Do we inevitably need to come to a societal reflection on our cognitive abilities?

Artificial intelligence in product management - How AI is already changing product development today

14:45 - 15:30 - Mustafa Yilmaz (andrena objects AG)

AI is revolutionizing product development - but what does this mean in concrete terms for product managers and product developers? In this presentation, we will discover how Large Language Models are changing the rules of the game: from the innovation process to completely new products. With practical insights, we will show what opportunities and challenges AI brings for the future of our work.

Vita: Mustafa Yilmaz is site manager and responsible for consulting at the Mannheim site of andrena objects ag, a software development and consulting company. After studying computer science at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), he gained more than 15 years of experience in advising companies on the professionalization of software product development and in supporting organizational and transformation processes. Since 2023, his focus has been on the strategic introduction and targeted use of artificial intelligence, particularly in the area of product management and the digital transformation of companies.