Week 20: Prof. Akbik as a Speaker at HUG, German Delegation at DWIH São Paulo

Alan Akbik, Professor of Machine Learning at HU, was a guest speaker at the Humboldt-Universitäts-Gesellschaft event “Quo Vadis German AI: How Machines Learn Language Efficiently?”, which took place on May 11, 2026, in the Emil Fischer Lecture Hall. In his presentation, Akbik focused on how language models work and the reasons behind their massive resource intensity. Consequently, developing such systems has so far been feasible mainly for large tech companies from the US and China. With “BOLDT”, a language model developed at HU, Akbik presented an alternative that requires significantly fewer model parameters. He demonstrated live that it nevertheless remains highly capable. After the talk, guests had the opportunity to ask questions and concluded the evening networking over finger food and drinks.

In mid-May 2026, a delegation consisting of representatives from German innovation hubs, including Katharina Heinrich from Science & Startups, visited the most important research and innovation institutes in São Paulo. They also participated as panelists in the talk “From Science to Startup: Ecosystem Perspectives from Brazil and Germany,” which took place as part of São Paulo Innovation Week. Their discussion revolved around what is institutionally and culturally required to transform scientific research into a successful business. From various perspectives, the panelists shed light on the topic and compared the ecosystems in Germany and Brazil. The discussion showed that cooperation between the two countries in the field of science-based innovation is a high priority. The meeting of German and Brazilian stakeholders was made possible by the German Centre for Research and Innovation (DWIH) São Paulo, which had organized the trip. The Federal Foreign Office founded the DWIH in 2012. It is now part of the network of German Science and Innovation Houses, which is coordinated by the DAAD.