Bosch is Expanding its Involvement in Cyber Valley

Bosch plans to ramp up its AI activities in Tübingen in Germany’s Cyber Valley. The company intends to invest some 35 million euros in a new “Bosch AI Campus.“ Bosch is currently in talks with the city of Tübingen to negotiate the purchase of a roughly 12,000 square-meter plot on which to build the campus.

The move into the new research complex is planned for the end of 2022. Roughly 700 experts will work on applied AI there. “Bosch aims to be among the global leaders in industrial AI research,“ said Bosch CDO/CTO Michael Bolle. “The new Bosch AI Campus will bring us a step closer to achieving this goal.“

The Bosch AI Campus in Tübingen will be situated close to the research facilities of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and the University of Tübingen’s AI research building. Besides laboratories and offices, the campus will offer spaces in which startups and external AI research groups can take up temporary residence. Freely accessible areas on the first floor of the campus will serve to foster exchange among Cyber Valley experts.

Other parts of the facility will also be open to the public. “In the new building, experts from the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence (BCAI) will work on projects together with experts from other Bosch divisions and from startups. The campus structure will do a lot to foster an exchange of ideas,“ Bolle said.

Bosch is a founding member of Cyber Valley, which was established in 2016. This joint research venture brings together partners from industry, academia, and politics to drive forward AI research in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The idea is to quickly transfer research findings into real-world industrial applications.

The company says that it is researching artificial intelligence that is safe, robust, and explainable. Its investment in the new AI campus is yet another step by the company to strengthen AI research in Cyber Valley. The company sponsors two Industry on Campus professorships, which allow the university to integrate practical industrial expertise into its research and teaching. These professorships focus on the issues that arise when preparing for industrial applications.