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Integrative Think Tank (ITT) 2025

Date: June 30 - July 4, 2025
Venue: Mathematikon & SAP AppHaus, Heidelberg
With partner companies INOVA+ & SAP 

Application deadline: May 3, 2025

This event is organized under the Marie Curie doctoral network AIPHY and Flagship 3 of the 4EU+ European University Alliance

Transforming challenges from the industry into research projects

What is an Integrative Think Tank (ITT)? 

The ITT is a 5-day challenge workshop with two industrial partners. Participants and experts from the companies work together to investigate R&D topics related to current developments at these companies. We adopted and adapted the concept from our colleagues at the University of Bath.

The goal of the event… 

… is to formulate research topics as thesis project outlines (PhD or Master). After the event, the university and the partner companies join forces to convert the project outlines into actual research projects.

Who can participate? 

The ITT is open to Master’s students, PhD candidates, and Postdocs at 4EU+ member universities. You should have a solid background in mathematics and computer science/machine learning. For this year's edition, a background in physics (quantum mechanics) is helpful. Typically, participants work in the STEM subjects, but economics, law, or the social sciences are also possible. The ITT is most successful if participants from various fields work together to analyze the challenges.

The benefits are:

  • Insight into hot topics in R&D departments;
  • Direct contact with companies for internships, practicals, or later employment;
  • Certificate of participation over 2 ECTS;
  • Possibility of using the resulting research questions for a thesis, dissertation, or other research project (subject to discussion between the company and home university).

Industrial Partners 2025

INOVA+

Inova DE GmbH has transformed into an AI competence lab under Inova+, focusing on AI-driven innovation and collaboration in Germany. Specializing in consulting, research, and software development, it pioneers sustainable AI solutions, manages partnerships, and supports groundbreaking projects, driving digital excellence and business process optimization through applied AI expertise.

SAP

As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE:SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience.

Program

The preliminary program is available here (PDF)

Last update April 4, 2025

Overview:

Monday, June 30:Presentation of SAP challenges; group discussions
Tuesday, July 1:Presentation of INOVA+ challenges; group discussions
Wednesday, July 2:             Group work - analyze the problems
Thursday, July 3:Group work - mathematical and computational tools
Friday, July 4:Presentation of project ideas with industry partners

All the time: open discussions, creative thinking, good vibes, and lots of coffee :-)

Travel support through 4EU+

4EU+ universities typically offer travel support for this kind of event. Please contact the local 4EU+ office of your home university to see whether this is possible:

Application

Please apply here.

Required documents: CV and short motivational letter (15 lines) as one combined PDF file. The file name needs to feature your name as follows: lastname_firstname.pdf

Application deadline: May 3, 2025

We will inform you about the outcome of your application by May 20, 2025.

Organizers

  • Prof. Jürgen Hesser
  • Dr. Michael J. Winckler
  • Prof. Robert Scheichl

Contact

HGS MathComp Office
Email: hgs@iwr.uni-heidelberg.de 

Funding

The ITT 2025 is co-funded by the MSCA Doctoral Network AIPHY, IWR, the 4EU+ University Alliance, and the DAAD.