EFAtec 2019 (english) by AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

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Liberty and Security

REVIEW ALPBACH TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM European Forum Alpbach 2019

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CONTENTS /

CONTENTS THIS REVIEW OF THE TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM AT THE 2019 ALPBACH FORUM OFFERS A COMPACT RETROSPECTIVE REFERENCE AND A WAY TO STAY INFORMED.

04 / STATEMENTS Preface: Wolfgang Knoll, Monika Eigensperger Franz Fischler, Hannes Androsch.

08 / PLENARY SESSIONS Liberty & Security in the Digital Age.

10 / RTI TALK More excellence research to strengthen innovation dynamics.

12 / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CYBERSECURITY On the proper way to deal with new and future threats.

14 / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTICS Hollywood visions of AI and robots are still a long way off.

16 / FALLING WALLS LAB – TICKETS TO BERLIN Two researchers want to tear down walls.

17 / SOCIAL AND EXHIBITION AIT Garden Party, #ART TEC

18 / MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT IN SCIENCE AND RESEARCH Diversity in management and liberty in education are in demand.

20 / ARIZONA DREAMS: AN INITIATIVE OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY TO DIGITIZE EDUCATION New paths through digital education programmes.

22 / BIOECONOMY – ESSENTIAL FOR SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE OF MANKIND Transformation of the fossil energy based system through the bioeconomy.

23 / TU AUSTRIA INNOVATION MARATHON

Working 24 hours nonstop on real-life tasks set by companies.

24 / IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND ...

New imaging, brain research and non-invasive neuroimaging.

27 / JUNIOR ALPBACH, Ö1 CHILDREN‘S UNIVERSITY ALPBACH Discussions and workshops on digital liberty and security

28 / BREAKOUT SESSIONS 13 breakout sessions aimed at delving into current and future topics for R&D, society, politics, science, and business.

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IMPRINT Publisher, media owner, and contents Alpbach Technology Symposium AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH Mag. Michael Hlava Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Vienna, Austria cmc@ait.ac.at, www.ait.ac.at Place of publication and date Vienna, October 2019 Production Alpbach Technology Symposium AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH Mag. Michael Hlava Claudia Klement Daniel Pepl, MAS MBA Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Vienna, Austria cmc@ait.ac.at, www.ait.ac.at Printing Bösmüller Print Management 2000 Stockerau Publisher Verlag Holzhausen GmbH Leberstraße 122, 1110 Vienna, Austria Editorial staff, design, and typesetting Harald Hornacek, Alfred Bankhamer; Layout: Repromedia/Sofia Deak Production management: Joachim Mittelstedt

/ INTRODUCTION

FOREWORD /

INTELLIGENCE FOR THE FUTURE

Wolfgang Knoll, Managing Director AIT

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Photo: Peter Rigaud

his year, the Alpbach Technology Symposium started with an art project for the first time. The exhibition „Uncanny Values“ of the MAK was devoted to the question of how culture and technology, humanity, power, control and orientation will develop in the “uncanny valley” of AI. This perfectly fit in with this year‘s topic „Liberty and Security“. What can ground-breaking new technologies such as AI or neural imaging contribute to human progress? What promise do new forms of economic activity hold, e.g. the bioeconomy? At the same time, questions about ethics and security arise. This is especially true for a highly digitised, highly networked era in which increasingly autonomous machines communicate with each other. The basis for this are the digitally connected network infrastructures – and they have to be secure. Cybersecurity is one of the major challenges of our time and has been one of the key topics at the Technology Symposium, with a continuous effort to find the balance between our need for security and the risk of losing our liberty. The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology is at the forefront of European cybersecurity and many other future-oriented research topics related to digitisation, decarbonisation or smart industries – with the clear goal of strengthening Austria as a center of knowledge and innovation and securing it for future generations. Our scientific partner ERC conducted two plenary sessions on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. Systems with Artificial Intelligence support us in more and more areas of life – whether as personal assistants in everyday life; as autonomous driving systems; in medicine; or in business. They fundamentally change our lives and offer the opportunity to bring great improvements to humanity. An exciting topic for R&D. But how can talents for science and industry be identified, developed and retained? This question was addressed by the renowned Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. Talents need one thing above all: Freedom to develop their creative potential. Here, much still remains to be done – in education, at universities, and in companies as well. Arizona State University, our guest this year, demonstrated how education can be efficiently digitised. The pioneering spirit of young people aiming to change the world was impressively demonstrated by the Falling Walls Lab Austria. And students from all over the world were able to prove at the TU Austria Innovation Marathon which creative solutions they can develop for concrete business challenges within just 24 hours. So much concentrated creativity in one place is truly inspirational. The theme for the European Forum Alpbach 2020 has already been established: it is „Fundamentals“ and promises to venture out further into unexplored territories. We will soon be able to present a new, very wellknown scientific partner for this. We already cordially invite you to the next Technology Symposium from 27–29 August 2020.

FOREWORD /

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND DIGITAL ETHICS

Monika Eigensperger,

Photo: ORF/Thomas Ramstorfer

ORF Radio Director

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he futurist Ray Kurzweil, a follower of „transhumanism“, predicts that the intelligence of machines will surpass that of humans in 2045. Whether one perceives the unconditional technical optimism of such visions of the future as utopian or dystopian, will depend on one‘s fundamental attitudes towards technology. But decisive factors for this are also the discussions taking place in society, and the media. This makes it all the more important for the Alpbach Technology Symposium, of which Radio Ö1 has been a co-organizer for many years, to place the human dimension of technology design at the center of attention time and again. „Liberty and Security“, this year‘s general theme of the European Forum, is a particularly stimulating context for discussing across disciplines how social effects of technology can be sufficiently taken into account already during development. It should not only be asked what is technologically possible, but what people expect from technology. The value of liberty in the digital age cannot be reduced to freedom of thought and freedom of action. It is also about being able to want the right thing in a technology-driven environment, as business informatics expert Sarah Spiekermann has noted in her latest book “Digitale Ethik“ [Digital Ethics]. The dependency of many people on their smartphone, the negative effects of filter bubbles and echo chambers on the Internet reveal problems that call for public discussion. Artificial Intelligence should help us humans gain knowledge and make decisions without taking over the decisions regarding our actions and rendering us dependent. With future technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and robotics, we should be able to keep our distance and limit negative digital side effects. This requires knowledge, but also participation. Quality journalism and public media are an important prerequisite for this. They form a reliable platform for a dialogue within society that includes as many people as possible. Cases in point are the reports on research and technology broadcast in the science and education programmes of Ö1 and on science.ORF.at where they also get linked to current ethical questions. The intention is to constructively convey the social design possibilities of technology and to stimulate the dialogue about them. The “Ö1 Kinderuni Alpbach” [Alpbach children‘s university], too, has boys and girls between the ages of seven and twelve take part in an entertaining discussion on the “Hows?” and “Whys?” of science and technology. Curiosity about science and media literacy in the digital worlds can also connect generations.

/ INTRODUCTION

FOREWORD /

THE NEED FOR TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION

President, European Forum Alpbach

Photo:EFA/Bogdan Baraghin

Franz Fischler,

ardly any other area could match the excitement that accompanied the discussion of „Liberty and Security“, the general topic of the European Forum Alpbach 2019, in the Technology Symposium. The all-connecting Internet does create unthinkable liberty, promises information and education for all, but it also reveals its dark sides such as cybercrime, mobbing, or targeted manipulation of information. The Internet of Things now even expands our senses; clever assistants and robots, coupled with Artificial Intelligence, help us get rid of unpleasant chores. How do we best use all these new liberties? What minimum level of security should society insist on in terms of using new technologies? There were a lot of informative answers to these questions in over 20 discussions and breakout sessions which contributed a lot to the objective of the forum: Not only to describe what a free society might look like, but to reflect together on which conditions are needed for such a society and how we can create them. It must also be about freedom for the future – since sustainability is precisely that. And more sustainability calls for a lot more innovation, both in social and precisely in technological terms. Another objective we set ourselves at the beginning of the Forum was to develop the EFA further, moving it from a discussion platform to an incubator for new solutions. With the new Alpbach Learning Missions, we have made good headway in this direction. For more than two weeks, scholarship holders worked together with experts on a specific problem and tried to find a concrete solution. These groups then also presented their findings at a plenary session. One of them had dealt with the question, „How can we successfully make the transition to a low-carbon society?“ This would be unthinkable without the use of state-of-the-art technologies, and, as Austria´s Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen emphasized in his speech, it is indispensable at the same time: „If the world community fails to meet the Paris climate targets, (...) all other issues that humanity may have are simply insignificant and irrelevant.“

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FOREWORD /

ENABLING INNOVATION

Hannes Androsch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and Chairman of the Austrian Council for

Photo: ORF/Hans Leitner

Research and Technology Development

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or 36 years now, the Technology Symposium in Alpbach has been the Austrian meeting place for discussing important issues for humanity, the latest technologies, social developments, and urgently needed measures in both the regional and global environment. Thanks to the organizational efforts of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and the ORF (Radio Austria 1), outstanding experts from science, industry and politics could be attracted again this year, with the guiding theme of „Liberty and Security“ taking on a highly charged nature in the ever-accelerating technology race. Scientists such as Martin Rees or Stephen Hawking have to some extent expressed very bleak predictions and threats to our future. In fact, there are many dangerous mega-developments that are given far too little attention in the light of current political events. Climate change has counted among these for a long time – a topic which is now driving more and more young people and adults to street protests. Much remains to be tackled as far as environmental pollution, the securing of raw materials, the provision of clean water, managing refugee and migration flows and growing inequalities are concerned. Digitisation can provide a remedy which in turn requires a secure digital infrastructure. This year‘s yearbook on the Technology Symposium entitled „Discussing Technology. Cybersecurity” is dedicated to this important topic. New sustainable and safe technologies are more in demand than ever before, in order to e.g. promote decarbonisation and to master the energy transition despite increasing energy demands. All these changes take place at a rapid, even breathtaking pace. We run the risk of becoming vulnerably dependent if we fail to secure our technological and digital sovereignty. At the same time, these new challenges offer a great opportunity to develop and establish new technologies in the global competition. In order for Austria not to fall behind in the global competition, 30 billion euros would have to be invested in science, research, and innovation. At the same time, fundamental reforms in education and research are required as well since output is low despite high input into the Austrian research system. It is important to tackle the measures that have been discussed for years, such as the Research Support Funding Act, the Research Support Funding Database, the Excellence Initiative and, last but not least, the implementation of an innovation strategy for the next decade. The Research Council has repeatedly pointed to these urgent issues. It is clear that we need qualified personnel to tackle the big challenges and that we have to create suitable opportunities for them. Otherwise, we will have to cope with dangerous brain drains. Europe, and Austria in particular, now have a serious amount of catching up to do, compared with leading countries such as China, the US, Japan, South Korea or Singapore. Otherwise, we risk ending up merely in the middle instead of at the top.

/ PLENARY SESSIONS

LIBERTY & SECURITY THE RAPID TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES CHANGE OUR SOCIETY AND THE WAY WE WILL LIVE AND WORK IN THE FUTURE. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ROBOTICS AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS POSE NEW CHALLENGES FOR MANKIND: THE FIELD OF TENSION BETWEEN NECESSARY SECURITY, DESIRED LIBERTY AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY BRINGS FORTH INNOVATIVE CONCEPTS AND SOLUTIONS.

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THE FOCUS OF THIS YEARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM WAS ON TOPICS LIKE DATA SCIENCE AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, CYBERSECURITY AND ROBOTICS, BUT ALSO ON NEW LEARNING AND TEACHING FORMATS BASED ON DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES. MORE ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY SYMPOSIUM 2019:

Photo: ORF/Hans Leitner

www.alpbach.org/en/event/tec19/

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/ PLENARY SESSIONS

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RTI TALK Florian Frauscher, Christoph Neumayer, Helga Nowotny, Andreas Reichhardt, Barbara Weitgruber / Chair Rosa Lyon For the first time, the Alpbach Technology Symposium, organised by AIT and Ö1, started with an art project this year. As opening effect, somewhat strange emojis appeared on the large projection screen in the crowded, darkened auditorium. Strange like the background language. They are part of the #ART TEC 2019 exhibition „Uncanny Values“ and were created entirely by Artificial Intelligence. Marlies Wirth, curator at the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, asked the basic question: How will culture and technology, human existence, power, control, and orientation develop in the uncanny valley of AI? Will new technologies offer more „Liberty & Security“ in the future? In his opening speech, Franz Fischler, President of the European Forum Alpbach (EFA), referred to the often antagonistically interpreted nature of the terms „Liberty & Security“ and their complex relationships. In his speech, Wolfgang Knoll, AIT Scientific Managing Director, addressed the great importance of the current highly topical issues of Cybersecurity, robotics, bioeconomy, AI or new forms of learning. The Technology Symposium was once again hosted by ORF science editor Andreas Jäger. Rosa Lyon, ORF presenter and editor, then opened the RTI talk after a video presentation on the above topics. As Chair, she immediately referred to Hannes Androsch, AIT Supervisory Board Chairman and Chairman of the Research Council who could not come to Alpbach this year but had caused quite an uproar in the media with his demand that 30 billion euros had to be invested in science, research and innovation in Austria so as to not fall behind. Helga Nowotny, herself a member of the Research Council and chairwoman of the ERA Council Forum Austria, stepped in instead to cover topics such as the gap between the relatively high input into the Austrian research system and the rather low output. The reasons for this are considered complex. A need for action has already been identified several times in studies, e.g. by the Research Council or the OECD. „We at the ERA Council are pleading for a significant increase in excellence and efficiency,“ said Nowotny, very fair and transparent competition rules in research being a requisite for this. The brightest minds must be sought in all fields. Becoming more efficient requires a clear idea of the goals one wants to achieve. In this case, the necessary funds must be used and the path chosen must be constantly evaluated in order to be able to rapidly react to new developments. Another important aspect for research policy: „Research should never be considered in isolation, it requires good networks and cooperation. We always have to include Europe in our thinking,” says Nowotny. On the moderator question concerning what would have to be included in the next government programme, Christoph Neu-

mayer, Secretary General of the Federation of Austrian Industries, replied: „We have to make sure that we increase the momentum and at least maintain the speed.“ Not an easy feat in a political transition phase. According to Neumayer, it is important that the financial framework is available for the right investments and that a system is set up that is conceptually integrated overall and tailored to excellence and output. „If we want to keep Austria competitive, more research and innovation is needed,“ emphasized Federal Minister Andreas Reichhardt, who referred to an illustration by the BMVIT representing the „engine of innovation“. Education, research, marketable products and factors such as digitization, Industry 4.0 or even an ageing society should be seen as one whole system. For this engine to turn quickly, it needs sufficient funding and appropriate governance, as well as long-term thinking beyond legislative periods. The minister then addressed the research framework law presented just before the Technology Symposium: „The bread with butter is here, the chives – the financing – are still missing,“ said Reichhardt, who emphasized that investments in research always pay off. With the framework law, the coming government could fully focus on the budget question for the Research Promotion Act. Barbara Weitgruber, Head of Section of the Department of Scientific Research and International Affairs at the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), pointed to the success story of the European Research Framework Programmes. A total of 1.3 billion euros in returns, i.e. 200 million euros per year have already been achieved in the current programme. „But the money is only one side of it; what is much more important is the European know-how that comes to Austria,“ says Weitgruber, who also wants to achieve more excellence and interdisciplinary cooperation. Austria is very successful with the European Research Fund, for example. Florian Frauscher, Head of Section in the Federal Ministry of Digital and Economic Affairs for Innovation and International Politics, spoke about the location-relevant research, where Austria ranks among the European leaders with institutions such as the Christian Doppler Laboratories, COMET Centres and ACR Centres. „We must continue to expand these strong areas,“ says Frauscher, who also calls for more courage to take risks. At the end, Helga Nowotny warned: „The biggest danger comes from complacency. If we think we‘re well positioned and things will just go on like this for the next ten years, we could make a serious mistake.“

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Barbara Weitgruber

Franz Fischler

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner, EFA/Bogdan Baraghin

Christoph Neumayer

Andreas JĂ¤ger, Marlies Wirth, Wolfgang Knoll

Andreas Reichhardt

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Helga Nowotny

/ PLENARY SESSIONS

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CYBERSECURITY Anne-Marie Chun Witt, Sepp Hochreiter, Stefan Mangard / Chair Jean-Pierre Bourguignon The rapidly increasing interconnections of all kinds of devices as well as countless new services such as for mobile payment offer cybercriminals ever larger areas of attack. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, president of the ERC, who curated this session, immediately started off with a question to the audience: “Will Artificial Intelligence help or harm Cybersecurity?“ In that selection, „help“ was clearly in the lead, even though AI also may take up the dark side. Anne-Marie Chun Witt, responsible for product marketing at the Californian company Synack, Inc., which offers a „crowdsourced security testing platform“, started out with alarming numbers. Cyber attacks could cost companies $ 5.2 trillion over the next five years, according to a study by Accenture. The ever greater dependence on complex Internet-enabled business models and lack of protective measures bear the primary responsibility for this. According to Chun Witt, companies are currently investing around 188 billion dollars in cybersecurity each year, but cybercrime is on the rise. „That‘s why we have to work smarter rather than harder,“ said the expert. One problem is the lack of security specialists. The next few years will see 3.5 million open security jobs. Although AI systems scale well, they are not as creative as humans, and, according to Chun Witt, they do not even find half as many vulnerabilities as humans. The future of cybersecurity therefore lies in a „shared crowd of security talent“, i.e. a network of the world‘s most talented security specialists, made available to organizations. For only few companies and organizations have the resources for high-level security. The security platform allocates tasks to systems with Artificial Intelligence and people to proactively counter threats in real time. Synack‘s current AI-enhanced security platform, which brings together more than 1,000 top security specialists from over 60 countries, including Austria, has already increased cybersecurity in organizations by 200 percent within two years. After a short overview of the development of AI, Sepp Hochreiter, one of the AI pioneers in Deep Learning and Head of the

Institute for Machine Learning at the Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), had to admit that Europe indeed has achieved outstanding technological innovations in terms of AI but that the marketing successes mainly originate from American companies like Google, Amazon, or Facebook. His European-developed Deep Learning technology LSTM, for example, enables the aforementioned companies to make a lot of money. The initiative ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems) – a network to achieve excellence in machine learning in Europe – constitutes a first step towards preventing the old continent from further falling behind the US and China. Linz is to become one of the ELLIS centres for AI. It is important that the outstanding engineering services in Europe are linked with AI. The know-how must remain here and, above all, products and contacts with customers themselves should be developed. Customer feedback is very important to be able to offer better machines and services. A course for AI with a focus on Deep Learning will be opened this October at the JKU as one important step. In conclusion, Hochreiter used AI-generated fake faces, fake airplanes or fake bridges to show what is already possible with AI today. Stefan Mangard from the Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communication Technology at Graz University of Technology, which had caused an international stir the previous year when it uncovered the processor security vulnerabilities Meltdown and Specter, paid particular attention to academic security research, which is of special importance, since many industries suddenly find themselves in the realm of the Internet of Things, Big Data or cybersecurity – with all the hitherto unknown problems. Building secure systems is very complicated and difficult nowadays. Much research is still needed to change this. „We must go beyond the current state of our technology and > rethink our systems from sketch,“ says Mangard.

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Further revving up the innovation engine. The Government Programme 2017–2022 plans the adoption of a Research Financing Act – a project enjoying top priority. In order to further develop Austria as a research and business location and make it more attractive, no standstill can be afforded in this area. The Research Framework Law (FRG) proposed by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) therefore creates a specific legal regulation for the first time which takes into account the needs of long-term RTI financing for more planning security and a reduction of the administrative burden. The design of the financing path will be one of the most important tasks of the next Federal government. It must be in all our interests to continue to rev up the innovation engine in Austria: R&D is not only an entry ticket for companies to export markets, but it also ensures growth and more employment, thus strengthening Austria as a technology location for the future. Andreas Reichhardt, Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology

Rosa Lyon

Florian Frauscher

Photos: EFA/Andrei Pungovschi, ORF/Hans Leitner

Stefan Mangard

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Sepp Hochreiter

/ PLENARY SESSIONS

Today, many systems are networked that should all be secure in themselves, but which often poorly harmonize with each other. Often, the view of the entire environment is lacking. „We as a community have to come together and work on open platforms. Openness is the key to security technology”, says Mangard. Openness also creates confidence in new systems such as the Smart Home.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTICS Tamar Makin, Stefan Roth / Chair Jean-Pierre Bourguignon The second session on the topic of Artificial Intelligence was also hosted by Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the ERC. His question at the outset: „What is a robot, anyway?“ They include simple welding robots as well as self-driving cars. Tamar Makin from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, whose research focuses on the effects of changes in the body on the brain, started off on a journey to Hollywood, to the cyborg visions in movies and the current reality. „Engineers have already developed truly remarkable robotic arms that can really do a lot for people who have lost a hand,“ says Makin. In the near future, there will also be technologies that rely on augmentation, e.g. giving a person an additional robotic hand or reinforcing limbs. For these technologies to be successfully and safely introduced in the future, the complex interaction of our body, our brain and our perceptions must be well coordinated. „We have a plan of our whole body in our brain,“ says Makin. And science is now learning how to use this plan for its Artificial Intelligence purposes, representing a whole new approach to neuroscience. Functions can now be precisely defined using brain decoding. Not only are amputees able to control artificial prostheses, but the brain also recognizes new artificial limbs. For example, in one study, people added and trained a new thumb, which could then be used in a variety of ways. „The thumb gets embodied,“ says Makin. This can also be seen in the brain, in which the normal hand representation changes. Augmentation is leading to a different way of using one‘s own body. „If people spend eight hours in a factory using an artificial thumb in their work,“ asks Makin, „will they be able to drive home safely without it?“ The brain is certainly smarter than we thought and can also recognize new, additional artificial body parts. „We are still a long ways from Hollywood visions such as those in the movie ‚I, Robot‘, where robots carry dogs, collect

garbage and look after children,“ said Stefan Roth, director of the Visual Inference Lab at the Technical University of Darmstadt. Most robots in the industry today have only one job and systems such as self-driving vacuum cleaners require very little AI. Robots must first become capable of performing multiple tasks and be able to capture their very complex environment, which also includes countless human rules of conduct. „Humanoid robots need a sense that shows them what is happening around them,“ says Roth. Therefore, the research field of Computer Vision is very important for the development of flexible, human robot assistants. But that will still take some time. Autonomous vehicles, too, will only be capable of moving around in well-structured environments for still some while. In order to master the high complexity of the world, the Visual Inference Lab relies on semantic image analyses in which every pixel of an image is assigned to an object, e.g. in order to quickly recognize obstacles and dangers. This is done with the help of Deep Neuronal Networks, which consist of hundreds of millions of small nodes. However, these must first be adjusted. Vast amounts of data are required in order to train these systems. „We collected data from street scenes and then described 5,000 images for the system,“ says Roth. But that‘s not sufficient for a high accuracy. That‘s why the Visual Inference Lab relies on simulated data. In a research project with Intel, cars now move virtually in Open World Computer Games in a well-defined environment. This speeds up the entire learning process of the AI system by 800 times. In order to also recognize completely unexpected objects – such as a suitcase – geometry and movement were included in the system in addition to the semantics. But each and every thing could never be recognized, which is why an additional safety net is required. „In order to enable the widespread use of autonomous systems, a lot of basic research is still required,“ summed up Roth.

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Jean-Pierre Bourguignon

Anne-Marie Chun Witt

Stefan Roth

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

AI and Robotics: Still many open questions.

Tamar Makin

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FALLING WALLS LAB

A SECOND TICKET TO BERLIN AWARDED

Daniel Grunenberg (Alpbach School of Entrepreneurship), Julie Rosser (Alpbach School of Entrepreneurship), Sumeet Kumar (Alpbach School of Entrepreneurship), David Nderu (PhD Student University Tübingen), Julia Pazmandi (Predoctoral Fellow, Research Center for Molecular Medicine & Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Rare and Undiagnosed Diseases), Laurin Herbsthofer (PhD Student, Med University of Graz), Bianca Grabner (University Assistant, Graz University of Technology), Jürgen Mlynek (Chairman Board of Trustees Falling Walls Foundation), Wolfgang Knoll (Managing Director, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology) / (from left to right)

tential and presented their innovations in three-minute pitches. „The Falling Walls Lab is a great event for encouraging young researchers to discuss their ideas internationally. Good research alone is not enough,“ said Prof. Wolfgang Knoll, Managing Director of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and organizer of the Alpbach Technology Symposium. The Falling Walls plenary session in Alpbach was rounded off by the appearances of three candidates from the Alpbach Summer School on Entrepreneurship by Hermann Hauser – Julie Rosser, Daniel Grunenberg and Sumeet Kumar. Rosser and Grunenberg were able to prevail here with their pitches „Pregenerate accelerates drug development for arthritis“ and „CURRATEC“ and will present their work at the Falling Walls Venture in Berlin, a platform for aspiring start-ups.

FREE PASSAGE TO THE FALLING WALLS LAB FINALE Bianca Grabner and Julia Pazmandi travel together to Berlin for the Falling Walls Lab final on 8 November. The young talents take advantage of the innovative environment of the international lab and can meet with renowned experts from the Harvard Business School, the University of Technology Munich and New York University. In total, more than 100 finalists will make presentations in front of the selected jury in Berlin. At the end of the final, three winners will be awarded the title „Falling Walls Young Innovator of the Year“.

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Photo: Hans Leitner/ORF

Hermann Hauser (Amadeus Capital Partners),

Two researchers want to tear down walls: Bianca Grabner from Graz University of Technology was able to convince the Alpbach audience, Julia Pazmandi from CeMM already won in April. In Alpbach, the race for a second ticket to the final of the Falling Walls Lab in Berlin was decided: Bianca Grabner from Graz University of Technology was able to convince the audience with her idea for new approaches in pharmaceutical active ingredient synthesis. In addition to the winner of the Austrian preliminary round in April, Julia Pazmandi, the three candidates David Nderu, Bianca Grabner and Laurin Herbsthofer proved their great po-

Focus on Excellence Research. Innovative know-how from Austria for Europe, networking of leading scientific researchers, strengthening the RTI system – the success that Austria achieved in „Horizon 2020“ will sustainably strengthen us as a science and business location. Now, with „Horizon Europe“, the next framework programme is about to be launched. With its mission orientation, clearly defined topical areas and a focus on excellence research, it can help to redefine Europe in the international competition. A clear commitment to research, development and innovation also requires new approaches to corporate finance. It is all the more pleasing that the European Innovation Council (EIC) can now actively contribute to the financing of innovative ideas and products. Together with the ERC (European Research Council), Europe‘s RTI system thus gains the opportunity to break new ground. Barbara Weitgruber, Head of Section in the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF)

SOCIAL

AIT GARDEN PARTY: ON GROWTH COURSE The traditional AIT garden party was well attended as always. Federal Minister Andreas Reichhardt promised the greatest possible continuity in the future on behalf of the BMVIT, so that AIT can continue to grow. Isabella Meran-Waldstein from the IV highlighted the role of AIT as a partner and technology enabler for industry. AIT Managing Director Anton Plimon emphasized the importance of AIT‘s strong position, „because innovation rolls over us like a tsunami. If you’re not in front, you have lost.” AIT Managing Director Wolfgang Knoll was pleased e.g. about the great interest of young participants.

OPEN DOORS: #ART TEC

Photos: EFA/Bogdan Baraghin, Ruth Altenburger

INTERFACES BETWEEN ART, TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE Great satellite of the VIENNA BIENNALE FOR CHANGE 2019: With the exhibition „UNCANNY VALUES. Artificial Intelligence & You“, the MAK is researching one of the most important topics of the coming decades, which has a major impact on all areas of our lives: Artificial Intelligence (AI). The exhibition focuses on the question of how culture and technology, human existence, power, control, and orientation will develop in the uncanny valley of AI. The contents of the exhibition are available on the website uncannyvalues.org.

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DEVELOPING FUTURE LEADERS FOR SCIENCE AND BUSINESS Julia Friedrichs, Thomas Sattelberger, Daniel Zajfman / Chair Helga Nowotny / Welcome Otmar D. Wiestler “Talented, creative minds are an absolute prerequisite for mastering all of today‘s major challenges in science, business and society,“ said Otmar D. Wiestler, President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, who curated this session. And precisely these talents are the object of global competition. Helga Nowotny, member of the research council and chairwoman of the ERA Council Forum Austria, referred right away to the 1997 McKinsey report which invented the expression “war on talent“. There was talk of „talent flow“ and „talent traffic“, particularly towards the US. The reasons behind these were in particular due to demographic developments and globalization. Now comes the „new war on talents“ in the name of digitisation and its flood of innovations, in which e.g. Google pays 500 times the standard salary for particularly talented people. „A talent is a promise, a gift, a potential that will eventually be realized,“ said Nowotny. This also creates a certain tension. There are talents everywhere – but they have to be promoted from childhood on, and even then, inequalities set in. Competition and selection lead to many talents having been left behind and those who have made it, being too similar. „A loss of diversity leads to disruptions in pluralistic societies,“ warned Nowotny. After the introduction, the panel discussion started with Julia Friedrichs, film director and author of books such as “Gestatten Sie, Elite“ and documentaries such as „Ungleichland“, Thomas Sattelberger, member of the German Bundestag and innovation spokesman for the FDP, who was previously a board member of Deutsche Telekom, and Daniel Zajfman, physicist and President of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The topic: How do you find talents, what has changed, and what are the obstacles? Sattelberger immediately discussed two different approaches to talent search. On the one hand, the very elitist approach such as the one pursued by the United States and the major industrial giants in the 1990s in the „War for Efficiency and not for Innovation“. The other route of developing talents takes place in biotopes such as Silicon Valley. „Emerging leaders“ are developing here in an environment of projects, research and innovation. „I have always been in favor of the non-elitist approach to finding and developing talent,“ said the former manager. Egalitarian personnel development methods at Lufthansa, for example, even opened the door for flight attendants to rise up to senior management. But since a certain inequality cannot be

prevented in reality, it is important, according to Sattelberger, to create biotopes for development, as in the film „Dead Poets Society“. There, a dedicated teacher inspired students to explore the world beyond public school drill. „We should set up such a thing in all schools, universities and companies,” Sattelberger stressed. „Talented people are always characterized by four parameters: a general curiosity, a passion for the job, knowledge, and the not unimportant talent to be happy so that they can recognize opportunities,“ said Daniel Zajfman. And talent requires one thing above all: the freedom to think – which is not always easy to achieve in an organization. But performance-oriented thinking is also very important in order to motivate people to excellence. „Elite institutions need to go out there so everyone can see what is being done, and so that all can participate,“ Zajfman said. „We have great programmes in the area of science education, we are reaching over 350,000 children in the periphery, and we even go into prisons.“ You do not lose your integrity and excellence when you change from an ivory tower into a lighthouse. „That‘s how you also find new talents in the entire population,“ emphasised Zajfman. The promotion of performance and excellence is important to Julia Friedrichs as well. „But the problem is that young people must first be given the opportunity,“ says Friedrichs, „already very early on, a selection by origin and family takes place.“ For example, 80 percent of the CEOs come from the top 4.5 percent of society. „The elite recruits itself because it is self-similar,“ says Friedrichs. Individual talent counts less here. But as a result the promise “if you want something and learn how to do it, then you can also become something” is already broken in childhood. This leads to the current problems such as frustration and anger as well as contempt for elites on the one hand, and, at the management level, to very homogeneous groups that are not up to the current challenges of a rapidly changing society due to a lack of diversity. Everyone agreed in the discussion that the school system in Germany and Austria was in an urgent need of reform. „We still have the same inequalities as in the 1960s,“ says Thomas Sattelberger. And Daniel Zajfman stressed: „Teachers have no freedom, yet talented people need freedom. And only talented people can teach talented children.“ Certainly, a radical transformation of schools and universities is urgently needed.

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Julia Friedrichs

Otmar D. Wiestler

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

Thomas Sattelberger

Daniel Zajfman

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Helga Nowotny

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ARIZONA DREAMS: AN INITIATIVE OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY TO DIGITIZE EDUCATION Robert Page, Peter Schlosser / Chair Manfred Laubichler Arizona State University (ASU), the largest university in the US with 120,000 students, was a guest at the Technology Symposium this year. And in the real world indeed, although it is well known for its digital education programmes. The goal of ASU is simply to improve education for everyone around the world. Manfred Laubichler, Professor and Director of the Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, announced that ASU not only seeks to exchange experiences while in Alpbach, but also wants to initiate joint initiatives with universities in Europe. He started by asking: „How do we achieve that all talents are really represented and also get their chance for higher education?“ For the global demand for people with higher education can no longer be met with conventional methods. The answer to that is digitisation. Currently, ASU has around 41,000 students in 175 online programmes and offers over 4,500 online courses. “All of this has only been possible thanks to radical technical innovations in the education system,“ emphasized Laubichler. The change at the public university began 18 years ago. Back then, ASU President Michael Crow radically changed the structures and experimented in order to create the “New American University”. This should not only provide excellence, but also

correspond to the ethical and socio-economic diversity of the country. The training programmes were radically reformed to this end. „The big challenge to solving today‘s global issues is to make sure the right people get the opportunities to make their contribution to society,“ says Laubichler. That is also what the title of this session stands for: Arizona Dreams. Robert Page, emeritus University Provost and Regents Professor at ASU, emphasized that ASU also has global obligations over and beyond its public university obligations to the state and its taxpayers. According to UNESCO, the global demand for people with higher education will increase from the current 160 million to 410 million over the next ten years. „For this, four universities would have to be built every week for fifteen years for 80,000 students,“ says Page – obviously, an impossibility. That is why ASU founded EdPLus, a digital company within the university. This digital learning platform includes over 130 different digital technologies, tools and services. As of late, even laboratory exercises can be performed virtually and digitally by means of simulations. At the same time, ASU has partnered with universities, companies and technology partners worldwide to provide everything >

Pulling together. Many clever minds and ingenious partners contribute to the success of the Alpbach Technology Symposium. „It is only through the collaboration and trusting cooperation of different experts, political decision-makers and scientific institutions that an up-to-date and pioneering programme can be offered for the Alpbach Technology Symposium each year,“ emphasizes Michael Hlava, AIT Head of Corporate and Marketing Communications, who is in charge of the organization, together with Claudia Klement. We would therefore like to thank the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology as well as Federal Minister Andreas Reichhardt, the Secretary General of the Federation of Austrian Industries Christoph Neumayer, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, representing the Science Minister Iris Rauskala, Head of Section Barbara Weitgruber, representing Federal Minister Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl (Federal Ministry for Digitisation and Business Location) Head of Section Florian Frauscher and Professor Helga Nowotny, who also represents the Austrian Council for Research and Technology Development. The two organisers AIT and ORF Radio Ö1 also thanked Marlies Wirth, curator of the Vienna The project team of the Technology Symposium:

Biennale, for her work as part of the ARTtec cultural programme. As far as the two scientific

Michael H. Hlava, Claudia Klement, Wolfgang Knoll

topical partners are concerned, we would like to thank Otmar D. Wiestler of the Helmholtz

(all from AIT), Martin Bernhofer (ORF Ö1)

Association of German Research Centres and Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, President of the Euroof the Falling Walls Foundation, is of great importance as well. The media partners of the Technology Symposium are „Die Presse“, „Terra Mater“ and „Futurezone“. Thanks also to the numerous sponsors of the Technology Symposium that have supported it year after year.

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Photo: AIT

pean Research Council. The commitment of Jürgen Mlynek, Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Peter Schlosser

Manfred Laubichler

Robert Page

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

Robert Page, Manfred Laubichler, Peter Schlosser

Great public interest

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from preparatory courses to lifelong learning courses. A separate app individually accompanies students in their studies according to their educational goals. For undergraduates, a programme called eAdvisor is offered, which – equipped with Artificial Intelligence – tracks the entire course of studies and offers suggestions, if e.g. other courses, career paths, etc. appear more favourable. This enables adaptive learning and already shows clear positive effects on the failure rates. “The key is to offer the right course at the right time,“ says Page. All online courses are therefore also tested and compared with the traditional education. ASU is also strong when it comes to corporate cooperations. A case in point: the specially developed Starbucks programme allows around 40,000 employees and their families to continue their education online through ASU. For ASU, such cooperation projects are another way to reduce barriers to education. At the same time, ASU is expanding its classical university operation on-campus and is of course also equipped with new learning technologies. Peter Schlosser, Vice President and Vice Provost and head of the Global Futures Initiative at ASU, finally addressed global future initiatives that are particularly important in our Anthropocene era and when faced with challenges such as global warming and excessive resource consumption. There is only a decade left to slow climate change in line with the Paris climate goals. „This requires proactive planetary management,“ says Schlosser. The Global Futures Laboratory was created for this purpose, to make meaningful contributions to securing a habitable planet and the well-being of mankind. The network – together with its partners – covers the five topics of learning, discovering, networks, solutions, and public relations as well as social engagement.

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BIOECONOMY – ESSENTIAL FOR THE FUTURE AND SECURITY OF MANKIND Daniela Jacob, Elspeth MacRae, Maria Patek, Joachim von Braun / Chair Ulrich Schurr „Only with an integrative, systematic research approach can the great problems of mankind be tackled,“ emphasized Ulrich Schurr, Head of Plant Sciences at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences at the Jülich Research Centre and Chairman of the Bioeconomy Science Centre in Jülich. This is why systemic answers to the problems of the Anthropocene and in particular a rapid transformation of the fossil fuel based system to a biobased circular economy are needed. All of this opens the door to a sustainable bioeconomy which takes nature with its energy and metabolic cycles as a model for technological developments and sustainable production and economic systems. But how do you implement such a bioeconomy? Germany, for example, wants to get out of coal mining by 2033 at the latest. The „Bioökonomie Revier Rheinland“ project is now developing a model region for the affected regions, including Jülich, that is intended to point the way to a sustainable circular economy in a scientifically supported way. According to Schurr, it is important to take the existing regional strengths into account and to integrate all interest groups. The already ongoing projects range from the cycle bioeconomy, Artificial Intelligence, and agrorobotics all the way to sustainable food waste utilization. „This shows how sustainability, added value and employment can go hand in hand,“ says Schurr. „The greatest innovation in the 21st century will be the combination of biology and technology,“ Joachim von Braun, director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn and chairman of the German Bioeconomy Council, quoted Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011. This is the beginning of a completely new age, which requires a comprehensive understanding of the bioeconomy. It is not just about biomass, but also about its knowledge-based production and use as well as about identifying innovative biological processes and principles. Only in this way could goods and services be offered along >

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Photo: ORF/Hans Leitner

TU AUSTRIA INNOVATION MARATHON

ENERGY BOOST INNOVATION 24 hours non-stop working on real tasks of companies and convince with innovative power at the Alpbach Technology Symposium: The TU Austria Innovation Marathon 2019 challenged 40 students: Eight companies presented various problems based on their own experience to selected Alpbach scholarship holders, who each had 24 hours to develop solutions and prototypes as teams. Together with the TU Austria organisational team, consisting of the three Austrian technical universities TU Vienna, TU Graz, and Montanuniversität Leoben, the partner companies defined real challenges in the form of specific tasks: • ams – topic: Sensors for social media

The 40 participants at the TU Austria Innovation Marathon gave everything: Total commitment, open discussions, know-how, creativity and perseverance – these are the key ingredients for developing innovative solutions in just 24 hours.

• C onstantia Flexibles – Topic: Packaging solutions for children and elderly people • Energie Steiermark – topic: Inclusive public e-charging station • Hilti AG – Topic: How to design a lightweight drill? • LIEBHERR – Topic: Navigate your food and chat with your fridge! • LOGICDATA – Topic: Office work experience of the future • PALFINGER – Topic: Safe, efficient and comfortable cargo securing method • Philips – Topic: Hardware solution for students and young adults to bring more health into their kitchen For one day and one night, the students pored over ideas, discussed and developed concepts. No sleep, but healthy snacks, litres of coffee, yoga, and sticky notes were waiting for the participants. Additional support was provided by the Austrian Pa-

tent Office. Students from more than 20 countries had to apply for their spot in the innovation marathon in advance. The teams were put together according to their field of study, their personal interests and their social skills. Many ideas – one solution concept Countless ideas were brought to life, discussed, rejected or revised. Ultimately, each team worked out a solution for the presentation. These were presented to corporate partners and guests on Friday, 23 August, just under 24 hours after the launch gong at 9:00, in a very creative and entertaining manner. The industry partners were impressed with the approaches and took alternative approaches and fresh ideas with them. The exhausted students were proud of their achievements and were able to make interesting contacts.

“Graphic Recording” in Alpbach. This year, too, Dennis de Jonge provided a live-drawn log of the Alpbach Technology Symposium. The visual documentation and accompaniment of

Photo: TU Austria/Harald Tauderer,Dennis de Jonge

discussions, workshops, group processes and events is not only exciting where the design is concerned, but also a connecting factor and a memorable element. In the picture you can see the representation for the plenary session “Artificial Intelligence and Robotics”

The Graphic Recordings of the Plenary Sessions can be found at the following QR code : AI & Robotics Graphic Recording by Dennis de Jonge

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all economic sectors in a truly sustainable manner. „The goal is the biologisation of the economy”, said von Braun. As with digitisation, it is to cover all areas. It is not just about technological innovations, but also about social, organizational and political innovations, dialogue, inclusion and concepts like the Sharing Economy. „To achieve the sustainability goals, bioeconomics is key,“ says von Braun – and preserving nature, it will also provide collective security. On the way there, the growth strategy must be changed to a „green growth“. And one‘s own conduct must change as well. „We have to battle our inner weakness“, said von Braun. Bioeconomics is not sustainable in itself, but must be designed in that way. In return, it offers innumerable opportunities for innovation, as systems for autonomous decisionmaking based on ant and bee research or numerous bioinspired technologies already show today. Elspeth MacRae, Chief Innovation & Science Officer at SCION, one of New Zealand‘s seven Crown Research Institutes (CRI), specializing in forests, forestry and other biomaterials research and technology, highlighted recent projects and plans in the bioeconomics area of New Zealand. „The potential for products from the forest is huge,“ says MacRae. In New Zealand, for example, GDP contributions from forests are to be increased tenfold, CO2 emissions reduced to zero and eroded land transformed into forests, among other things. All this is to lead to a higher standard of living for all. Numerous projects for biorefineries, lightweight construction, bark utilization, biotech trees, bioplastics, mobile production plants or 4D printing are already underway for this purpose. Daniela Jacob, Director of the Climate Service Center at the Helmholtz Center Geesthacht, concentrated on climate change and the latest IPCC report. „Bioeconomy is also part of a system – i.e. the Earth we live on,“ says Jacob. And it could do a lot to achieve the climate goals. “It is important, above all, that we reduce our CO2 emissions at an early stage, otherwise we will have to use technologies to remove a great deal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to reach the 1.5-degree target,“ says Jacob. While such technologies already exist, they would not be sufficient and the side effects are unclear. „It‘s better to focus on low carbon and CO2-compliant lifestyles,“ says Jacob. Each year and every quick decision count in the fight against global warming. Maria Patek, Federal Minister for Sustainability and Tourism, discussed the Austrian bioeconomics strategy, which was adopted in March this year and is also a key element of the national climate and energy strategy. The goal is to reduce greenhouse

gases by 36 percent by 2030. Austria has a long tradition in the field of sustainable forestry, which still has a lot of potential – e.g. for wood fiber products. The recent opening of the tallest skyscraper in timber construction in Vienna is a sign of biobased innovation. „The skyscraper represents a new way of thinking and is a green investment,“ says Patek. „My vision is that Austria will become a leader in the bioeconomics field“. In the discussions, everyone agreed that bioeconomics is essential for safeguarding the future of mankind.

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IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND… Josh Chartier, Jack Gallant / Chair Veronika Schöpf Veronika Schöpf, Consultant at Accenture and Visiting Professor at the Medical University of Vienna, has been working in the field of New Imaging and Brain Research for 15 years. However, “mind reading” is not about things like telepathy in order to entertain people. „I‘m talking about New Imaging technologies,“ said Schöpf, which includes magneto-encephalography, electro-encephalography, near-infrared spectroscopy and the most widely used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). All of these technologies indirectly measure energy consumption. When the right arm is lifted, for example, one can recognize the matching signal in the difference between oxygen-rich and deoxygenated blood. Today, brain research speaks of networks, such as for vision, or of movements that influence one another. Multimodal imaging now also reveals something about the behaviour of patients, such as how a stimulus to lift one‘s hand works. Not only the imaging data, but also all factors around it are taken into consideration. Before images of the brain can be analyzed, it must be clear what the right questions are – that is, what was actually represented. This makes it so complicated for brain research. „We want a Google Maps for the brain,“ says >

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Elspeth MacRae

Ulrich Schurr

Joachim von Braun

Maria Patek

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

Veronika Schรถpf and Jack Gallant

Daniela Jacob

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Schöpf. The required real-time network that offers multimodal possibilities now exists. Using the example of the sense of smell, Schöpf showed the complex relationship between smell and the brain. The processing of smells in the brain works differently than with the other senses. The olfactory receptors are different for each person. And olfactory molecules have many properties. Coffee, for example, includes over 800 active olfactory components. When it comes to smelling, factors such as whether you know what you smell, whether you are male or female, or hungry, and many more also play an important role. Smell factors also include many human factors. The loss of the sense of smell is very hard on patients. The research on changes in brain functions has been able to determine if an odor therapy would work. And the important role of the microbiome in the nose was discovered at the same time. The power of social fragrances is interesting for the consumer industry in turn. Each person has a unique smell print. Odors even affect memory and our moral choices. And there are social smells that provide information like fear, e.g. via perspiration, and influence our actions. „Neuroimaging is not mindreading, but a way to visualize brain functions that can help us understand processes of perception,“ summarizes Schöpf. Jack Gallant, professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of California Berkeley, pointed to the enormously high social and financial costs of brain disease right at the beginning of his lecture on noninvasive functional neuroimaging. That is why a lot of research is being done here. One area of research is brain decoding, which raises some ethical questions as well. The human brain consists of hundreds of modules and maps organized in a highly interconnected network. Using numerous recording methods for the brain activities, efforts are made to explore processes and functions. By means of real-time representations in the form of unfolded brain maps, it is possible to track precisely those brain activities that are triggered, for example, when watching a film. But the exact assignment of a stimulus is complex and requires semantic concepts that cover everything from material properties to emotions. To date, there are already over 2,000 different concepts that can be used to define a cat or a dog. These are represented in many areas of the brain – such as appearance, smell, social relationship. Brain decoding is therefore a very complex matter indeed. Another problem with brain exploration by means of neuroimaging is that these „maps“ are not static, but can change dynamically and that each brain is slightly different. One approach to learning more about the processes in the brain is to use a driving simulator that represents already defined environments and thus facilitates the assignment of stimuli. From this knowledge, a brain decoder can then be developed thanks to an inverse decoding approach. Today, for example, elephants shown in a film can already be easily recognized in the representation that is decoded by the brain.

Nevertheless, Josh Chartier of the Chang Lab at the University of California San Francisco says: „Non-invasive neuroimaging is still in its infancy,“ and compares it to the first, very coarse photographs. In the future, neuroimaging could offer much faster disease diagnosis or also applications for consumers. Of course, this also raises a lot of interesting and unsettling ethical issues, such as privacy, when data taken directly from the brain are being processed. The judiciary in the US, for example, wants to gain access to brain data, although it is already clear that there is no brain area for telling lies. People often have very different memories of events, e.g. accidents. The accuracy of brain decoders is simply too low to be of reliable use in court. Josh Chartier then presented a computer-brain interface for speech that should enable people with neurodegenerative diseases to communicate again and thus get out of social isolation. Not only was a semantic representation system including the recording of the brain signals developed, but the mouth was modeled for speech output as well. In tests, the system works well – so far with people who are still capable of speech. The voice output is now to be made much clearer. The system could then, above all, serve people who cannot speak; this would also require special trainings. But that will take several more years of research.

Josh Chartier

Photo: ORF/Hans Leitner

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JUNIOR ALPBACH – WORKSHOP ON “FAKE NEWS” Philipp Agathonos, Helmut Leopold, Manfred Schleinzer / Welcome Barbara Weitgruber / Introduction Jessica Braunegger, Kerstin Kotal, Michael Mürling Junior Alpbach, a format that has been tried and tested for 21 years as part of the Technology Symposium held by the European Forum Alpbach to teach science and technology to young people, was dedicated to the subject of „Fake News“ in a workshop opened by Barbara Weitgruber, Section Head in the Federal Ministry of Education. The workshop was organized by the Center for Digital Safety & Security at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology and the science communication platform ScienceClip.at, an initiative of OVE Austrian Electrotechnical Association, in close collaboration with the Austrian Armed Forces (BMLV) and the Office of Science and Technology Austria (OSTA) at the Austrian embassy in Peking. Demonstrations, discussions, impulse talks, and insights from top experts gave the workshop participants detailed and practical insights into the broad topic of „Fake News“. In addition, the young people could test themselves as science journalists in workshop groups.

Ö1 CHILDREN‘S UNIVERSITY ALPBACH – SOMETHING AMAZING NOT JUST FOR THE KIDS Lena Drummer, Sebastian Holzknecht / Welcome Barbara Weitgruber / Chair Silvia Prock / Coordination Martin Bernhofer The Children‘s University Alpbach provided enlightening topics even for older children and grown-ups. Let‘s be honest: Did you know that every minute, about 7.6 million YouTube videos are watched online, 23 million messages are sent via WhatsApp, and five million „likes“ are posted on Facebook? Today‘s kids are fully familiar with Instagram, Netflix and Google. But precisely because of that, the advice of Sebastian Holzknecht to be careful online – and to be aware of all that is visible on the Internet – was valuable and important. The children were given practical examples in this regard – cool hands-on-lessons for digital natives!

Participants of the Junior Alpbach Workshop 2019: Proper handling of fake news is essential in a digitised media world.

Wow effects: The youngest Alpbach participants were

Photos: Michael Mürling/AIT, Hans Leitner/ORF

quite amazed.

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/ BREAKOUT SESSIONS

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Photo: EFA/Matteo Vegetti

LIBERTY AND SECURITY ARE MAJOR POLES OF HUMAN 足EXISTENCE. THE RAPID TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 足RESULTS ON THE ONE HAND IN MORE AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES OPENING UP FOR US, AND ON THE OTHER HAND IN NEW RISKS. DIGITISATION SUPPORTS INNOVATIVE FORMS OF 足COLLABORATION, PREPARES NEW WAYS FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, AND PRESENTS CHALLENGES FOR BUSINESS, 足INDUSTRY, AND SOCIETY. THESE AREAS OF TENSION WERE DISCUSSED IN 13 BREAKOUT SESSIONS.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND GOVERNANCE: LIBERTY, TRUST, SECURITY

CYBERSECURITY, PRIVACY, ETHICS – OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS FOR A DIGITAL SOCIETY

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Paula Boddington, Patrice Chazerand, Meredith Broussard, Sepp Hochreiter, Tim O’Brien, Jack Stilgoe / Chair Klement Tockner / Coordination Marie-Louise Longin / Summary Ulrike Felt AI is gaining particularly in importance when it comes to gaining new insights and trade recommendations, according to Marie-Louise Longin (BMBWF) and Klement Tockner (FWF) in their introduction. The political, social and ethical consequences of automated knowledge production and its limitations must not be forgotten. Patrice Chazerand (Digitaleurope) called for more international cooperation to develop a governance model for AI that strengthens the ethical values of the EU and delivers added value for Europe. Sepp Hochreiter (JKU Linz) spoke about the importance of Deep Learning and autonomous driving. In the area of governance, new AI applications such as chatbots would help in the fight against fraud, in crime prevention or cybersecurity, with ethical and social aspects needing to be taken into account. Jack Stilgoe (University College London) talked about the AI hype and the question of how we can democratize AI – e.g. through cooperative innovation models, so as not to increase existing inequalities through prejudiced data records. How Microsoft developed a responsible AI model for facial recognition, was demonstrated by Tim O‘Brien, who also called for government regulation of AI. Meredith Broussard (New York University) addressed the topic of Artificial un-Intelligence and warned against „techno-chauvinism“. It is important to recognize what we can achieve with technology in order to make the world a better place for everyone. Paula Boddington (Cardiff University) dealt with the development of value technologies and how freedom of choice and humanity could be improved by it.

Artiificial Intelligence: We need it, but we also need to approach it responsibly.

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Dominik Engel, Katharina Krombholz, Michele Loi, Matteo Maffei, Stefan Mangard, Joe Pichlmayr, Marjo Rauhala / Chair Edgar Weippl / Coordination Elisabeth Schludermann They are contradictory and at the same time interdependent: Internet security, free data exchange and privacy. Edgar Weippl (SBA Research and Vienna University of Technology), Dominik Engel (Salzburg University), Katharina Krombholz (CISPA-Helmholtz Center for Information Security), Michele Loi (Zürich University), Matteo Maffei (Vienna University of Technology), Stefan Mangard, Joe Pichlmayr (Ikarus Security) as well as Marjo Rauhala (Vienna University of Technology) addressed current cybersecurity and ethics challenges in this discussion panel supported by TU Austria, presented use cases and then looked for structures and incentives in a hands-on workshop in order to establish Austria as a recognized player in ethically-based cybersecurity research. The possible benefits of „privacy enhanced technologies“ were discussed as well. In addition mental models for cryptographic tools and protocols to make security more userfriendly were presented, as well as the exciting interdisciplinary EU project CANVAS.

Cybersecurity: There is still a lot to do in terms of research.

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

Interdisciplinary approaches are helpful in this regard.

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HOW MUCH LIBERTY DOES A SOCIETY NEED?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – FIT FOR AUSTRIA AS AN INDUSTRIAL LOCATION

Christiane Druml, Iris Eisenberger, Gerald Ganzger, Walter Hammerschick, Wolfgang Mazal / Chair Gabriele Ambros and Friedrich Faulhammer / Coordination Janina Nunez

Nuria de Lama, Sabine Theresia Köszegi, Clara Neppel, Michaela Regneri, Lucilla Sioli, Anouk Visser / Chair Michael Wiesmüller / Coordination Lisbeth Mosnik

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How much liberty does society need? How much security is necessary? Gabriele Ambros (Forschung Austria and Verlag Holzhausen) said the topic had to be viewed from a broad context. Friedrich Faulhammer (Danube University Krems) emphasized the incongruity between the desire for more freedom and for more security. Christiane Druml (MedUni Vienna) explored what research should be allowed to do and where it reaches ethical limits. Iris Eisenberger (BOKU) talked about risks of digital efficiency and security as well as the risk of wrong decisions by algorithms. Gerald Ganzger (Lansky, Ganzger and Partner) emphasized that „more freedom on the Internet is at the expense of the freedom of the individual“. Walter Hammerschick (Institute of Legal and Criminal Sociology) generally noted a “securitization“ of politics. And Wolfgang Mazal (University of Vienna) pointedly said: “People accept a lot of un-freedom in order to enjoy their freedom.”

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The national AI strategy is intended to help Austria navigate into the future, with politics having to pave the way for a responsible and beneficial AI in Europe. Michael Wiesmüller (BMVIT) spoke about measures such as the National Council for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, the White Paper on AI, and the strategy process „Mission for Artificial Intelligence Austria 2030“. Research and innovation in this field are very important for Austria as an industrial location. Particular attention was paid to the evolution of infrastructures (5G network, transport, energy sector). Clara Neppel (IEEE Technology Center), Sabine Theresia Köszegi (University of Vienna, HLG AI, Council for Robotics) and Lucilla Sioli (European Commission) specifically addressed the topic of responsibility in Artificial Intelligence and talked about standardization, ethics interoperability, guidelines and investment recommendations for trustworthy AI and the European dimension. Michaela Regneri (Otto), Anouk Visser (Birds.ai) and Nuria de Lama (Atos), who also brought their technological experience to the table – such as traffic management in smart cities or warehouse optimization – reported on the industrial disruption of AI and provided examples of operational breakdowns. The discussion also covered which problems AI should solve and which problems should be solved by society.

On the test bench: The various facets of artificial intelligence pose new questions and challenges to society, politics and the economy.

Awareness raising: Individual liberties also require an

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

eye for the big picture.

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(WHY) DO WE NEED ART TO INNOVATE?

DIGITIZATION IN INDUSTRY – DESIGN OPTIONS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WORKS COUNCILS AND MANAGEMENT

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Elisabeth Gutjahr, Michael Hackl, Antoni Rayzhekov, Claudia Schnugg, Noah Weinstein / Chair Manfred Tscheligi / Coordination Alina Krischkowsky / Introduction Andrea Klambauer Innovation happens when coincidence turns into benefit. Art is a space that is not determined by usefulness and a space where coincidence has its place. Thus the introduction to a somewhat different breakout session, supported by ITG – Innovation and Technology Transfer Salzburg, opened by Manfred Tscheligi (University of Salzburg, AIT). The Salzburg provincial government member Andrea Klambauer gave an introductory explanation as to whether innovation needs art. Experimental arts not only make technological future scenarios tangible, but the intensive collaboration between technology experts and artists can also foster innovation, as some examples have shown. In a lecture-performance, Antoni Rayzhekov (National Academy of Fine Arts Sofia, FH St. Pölten) presented projects such as „#BIOCOIN“ where the audience can see and hear the sounds produced by bacterial colonies grown on money, or how to use the body as an instrument. Noah Weinstein (Autodesk‘s Pier 9 Workshop and Residency Programme in San Francisco), Michael Hackl (Scinteco), Elisabeth Gutjahr (Mozarteum University Salzburg) and Claudia Schnugg (ArtScience Consultant) spoke about contexts and framework conditions for art-based innovation. The current requirements for art-based innovations were discussed afterwards.

Innovation: Cooperation between technology experts and artists as a new approach.

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Ernst Daberto, Jörg Flecker, Christoph Krammer, Wolfgang Rathner, Hilda Tellioglu, Partrik Tirof / Chair Roland Sommer and Kerstin Repolusk / Coordination Miron Passweg Digitisation and automation lead to major changes in business, the workplace, and society. In this session, supported by the AK-Vienna [Federal Vienna Chamber for Employees], scientists and practitioners from management and staff representatives discussed optimal design and organization possibilities in companies in order to secure jobs in the new, digitised economy and to be successful together. Christoph Krammer (Magna Steyr), Ernst Daberto (Swarovski), Wolfgang Rathner (Fill) as well as Patrik Tirof (Innio Jenbacher, PROGE Tyrol) shared practical experience from digitisation projects. Hilda Tellioglu (Vienna University of Technology) and Jörg Flecker (University of Vienna) devoted themselves to the current scientific discourse on the effects of digitisation. Kerstin Repolusk (Expert Group Humans in the Digital Factory) and Roland Sommer (Platform Industry 4.0) emphasized the important role of people for successful digital transformation.

Changed worlds: Successful digitization is not possible

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

without people.

REVIEW #Efatec19

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LIBERTY AND SECURITY – THE FIRST VICTIMS OF DIGITIZATION?

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY? LIVING AND DOING BUSINESS BETWEEN COMFORT – SPEED – SECURITY

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Marco Di Filippo, Peter Gridling, Volker Kozok, Benedikt Strobl, Walter Unger / Chair Manfred Schleinzer / Coordination Vinzenz Schrank Manfred Schleinzer and Walter Unger (BMLV) introduced the current threat situation in an increasingly interconnected world. Only with a whole bundle of cybersecurity measures can the risks be reduced to a tolerable level. Defense measures to ward off major attacks on Austria‘s sovereignty should be implemented swiftly. Benedict Strobl (NSIDE Attack Logic) spoke about the role of humans as a gateway for hackers. Volker Kozok (German Federal Ministry of Defense) led into the dark side of the Internet, the Darknet, and reported on the challenges of closing an illegal drug marketplace in the TOR network. By means of live hacking, Marco Di Filippo (whitelisthackers UG) showed how non-secure smartphones are. Peter Gridling of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter-Terrorism called for more cyberfitness and incentives to make critical infrastructures more robust to withstand cyberattacks.

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Thomas Kalcher, Heinz Moitzi, Michael Paulweber, Ingo Peitler / Introduction Michael Waidner / Chair Heinz Mayer / Coordination Christian Derler Heinz Mayer, Director DIGITAL at Joanneum Research, led through the session. „Attackers have a simple life at the moment, e.g. because we are pushing more and more functionalities into the Cloud,“ as Michael Waidner from Fraunhofer SIT launched the discussion, emphasizing that cybersecurity is the necessary backbone of digitisation. Research shows that 73 percent of all apps have security problems and that cyberaccidents have already occurred in half of all companies. Yet it would be easy to fend off 80 percent of all attacks if already existing technologies were used. Michael Paulweber from AVL List addressed the challenges the automotive industry is faced with. „Software has become an integral part of the car, which also leads to a sharp increase in hacks,“ says Paulweber. Validating the systems of autonomous vehicles is much more challenging than building them. „Today technology is no longer in the vehicle, but the vehicle is technology,“ said Thomas Kalcher of Magna Global, who considers it important to move the industry quickly towards the Smart Factory, which also brings about new IT security requirements in turn. Heinz Moitzi (AT&S) discussed cybersecurity in critical systems. Confidentiality, integrity and availability are required. „A bank is actually an IT company. 100 percent availability and maximum security are guaranteed,” said Ingo Peitler from the Raiffeisen Computer Center about the topic of security in finance. All agreed that people‘s awareness of cybersecurity must be raised.

Digitization as a security problem: The increasing transfer of data to the Cloud creates new threat scenarios.

Security as a challenge: The increase in cyberattacks

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

requires holistic security strategies.

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FREE PLAY OF INNOVATIVE FORCES OR SYSTEMATIC RESTRUCTURING?

TECHNOLOGY OFFENSIVE – A BOOST FOR INNOVATION AND PROSPERITY

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David Joao Carvalho, Bernd Datler, Bernd Klöckl, Marta Molinas, Martin Schaffer / Introduction Marc Elsberg / Chair Markus Mooslechner and Theresia Vogel / Coordination Katja Hoyer After the opening address by Theresia Vogel (Climate and Energy Fund), bestselling author Marc Elsberg („Blackout“) gave a talk on the vulnerability of infrastructures in our highly automated, networked society, such as the electricity grid. The „Internet of everything and everyone“ significantly increases the interdependence and complexity of our social fabric. Bernd Klöckl (TenneT TSO) described the highly interconnected, per se very stable European energy system. The energy revolution is now bringing on a more volatile system operation, and digitisation brings forth new innovations – and thus new requirements, threats, and opportunities for supply security. In the era of the Internet of Things, IT security is a complex issue that should protect many devices throughout their life cycle, said Martin Schaffer (SGS Digital Trust Services). Unsafe products could be prevented by laws, standards, and conformity testing. The EU cybersecurity law is a first step in that direction. In order to prevent a secret „kill switch“ from paralyzing the whole digital world of a country one day, it would have to be constantly monitored for attacks. Marta Molinas (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) spoke about possible direct communication channels between the brain and e.g. household appliances in Smart Homes in order to offer many new opportunities to people, in particular those with physical disabilities. David Carvalho (NAORIS) spoke about the risks of current and future attacks on our core infrastructure and sectors such as the military, and about strategies to mitigate them. Bernd Datler (ASFINAG) then addressed the specific challenges for transport infrastructures.

Neuralgic targets: Vulnerable infrastructures such as energy or transport networks require special protective measures.

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Josef Affenzeller, Hermann Erlach, Hermann Hauser, Hannes Hecher, Anna Holzmann, Matthias Weber / Chair Isabella Meran-Waldstein / Coordination Anna Bohrn Isabella Meran-Waldstein (Federation of Austrian Industries) emphasized that Europe must position itself clearly in the global competition in order to retain its technological sovereignty. How can technology competence be strengthened and value chains in Austria and Europe be safeguarded and expanded? Anna Holzmann (Mercator Institute for China Studies) talked about China‘s path to global technology leadership and impacts on Europe. She presented a new study analyzing both the Chinese government‘s approach and the role of private companies. Matthias Weber (AIT) spoke about the technology location Europe and the characteristics of the European research and innovation system. The current RTI development was then discussed in the panel discussion from an entrepreneurial perspective, with Hermann Erlach (Microsoft Austria), Hannes Hecher (Schiebel) and Josef Affenzeller (AVL List) participating.

Securing the location: Europe must strengthen its

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

technology competence and its value chains.

REVIEW #Efatec19

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MIXED REALITY – A DIGITAL RENDERING OF THE REAL WORLD IN THE „VIRTUAL HOUSE OF DIGITIZATION“

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – TECHNOLOGY OF THE FUTURE

DEMOCRATISED ELECTRICITY MARKET: LIBERTY AT THE EXPENSE OF SECURITY?

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Josef Sacher, Andreas Schneemann, Wolfgang Urbantschitsch / Chair Barbara Battisti and Gerhard Christiner / Coordination Silvio Piskernigg

Florian Frauscher (BMDW) introduced the subject of AI, a technology that already makes our everyday life easier today, creates new business areas, but is also seen as a threat. Where is this technology heading to in the future? Michael Hirschbrich (Apollo AI) addressed the question of how we want to deal with products and online offers in the future that come from abroad without having to adhere to European frameworks and rules. It is also important to address the current ethics debate on AI in a factual manner and to convert it into a profound reflection on AI. Gregor Demblin (tech2people) gave a keynote speech about exoskeletons and explained how startups in the field of medical technology are gaining access to test subjects and data through an international network of scientists, practitioners and patients. Vienna‘s General Hospital (AKH), for instance, stores valuable data for AI startups. Deep Learning is definitely changing the field of medicine completely.

New players and roles in the electricity market pose major challenges to the security of the electricity supply. Barbara Battisti (ORF) hosted the session supported by APG Austrian Power Grid AG. Wolfgang Urbantschitsch (E-control) further discussed the “re-decentralisation“ and politicisation of the electricity market. Josef Sacher (voestalpine Stahl) presented the „prosumer“ voestalpine, who can supply about 75 to 80 percent of the electricity demand in Linz itself and provide power for the grid stabilization on the standard energy market. Andreas Schneemann (Energy Compass, act4. energy) spoke about integrated regional energy systems based on renewable energy. A targeted, permanently optimized energy load transfer is a solution approach for a stable energy supply. “A future with renewable energy can only succeed if technical, regulatory and energy policy developments are systemically considered together,“ Gerhard Christiner (APG) summed up.

Living virtuality: Europe can learn from Silicon Valley and

Limits of digitization: How do we deal with personal data,

Energy future: Profound changes in the energy market

still go its very own, successful way.

knowledge and regulations?

have so far affected separate areas.

Gregory la Blanc, Robin Lumsden, Thomas Moser, Tanja Zigart / Commentary Tina Gruber-Mücke, Christian Neu hofer, Andreas Pumhösel, Martin Stauch / Introduction Petra Bohuslav / Chair Claus Zeppelzauer / Coordination Karin Herzog Lower Austrian provincial government member Petra Bohuslav pointed out the unique possibilities of mixed reality. Next, Claus Zeppelzauer (ecoplus) presented the „Virtual House of Digitisation“, a regional platform that digitally interconnects all areas in Lower Austria. Gregory La Blanc (University of Berkeley) focused on network effects of innovation, specifically the Silicon Valley innovation showcase. Thomas Moser (IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems) and Tanja Zigart (Vienna University of Technology) presented a mixed reality project of the „Virtual House of Digitisation“ and the FFG project „Mixed Reality-Based Collaboration for Industry“. This was followed by a presentation on VR and AR with Andreas Pumhösel (Knorr Bremse), Martin Stauch (BENE), Tina Gruber-Mücke (IMC FH Krems) and Christian Neuhofer (MAN Truck & Bus Austria). In the „Fireside Chat”, Robin Lumsden (Lumsden & Partners Attorneys at Law) gave an insight into the world of Silicon Valley.

Photos: ORF/Hans Leitner

Michael Affenzeller, Anton Aschwanden, Gregor Demblin, Nikolaus Forgo, Michael Hirschbrich, Sarah Spiekermann-Hoff / Chair Florian Frauscher / Coordination Gabriele Schmid

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2020 2017 2016

2016

Fundamentals 27.–29.8.2020

25.–27.08.2016

Congress Centrum Alpbach/Tirol Informationen: www.alpbach.org/tec Auskünfte: claudia.klement@ait.ac.at Congress Centrum Alpbach/Tirol Informationen: www.alpbach.org/tec Auskünfte: claudia.klement@ait.ac.at

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