On 10 March 2026, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau will host the “Wildau Conference on Artificial Intelligence” (WiKKI). The event forms part of the 15th Wildau Science Week. This year’s conference once again offers broad exchange across the entire field of information technology. Key topics include digitalisation and sustainability, the shortage of skilled workers, the energy crisis, and the increasing number of cyberattacks on IT and OT infrastructures.

How can humans and artificial intelligence (AI) work together productively? What role can AI play in addressing the shortage of skilled workers or in modern medicine? These and many other questions will be explored at the Wildau Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2026 (WiKKI).

The conference is not only a platform for exchanging ideas on new approaches across the entire field of information technology. WiKKI also focuses on defining issues of our time and presents solutions for applying AI in professional and academic practice.

Practice-oriented research for today’s challenges
The conference focuses on the pressing challenges of our time that require solutions. It places particular emphasis on the “twin transformation” of digitalisation and sustainability and showcases solutions for integrating AI into professional and academic environments.

WiKKI will open with welcome speeches by Prof Ulrike Tippe, President of TH Wildau and Vice-President for Digitalisation and Academic Continuing Education at the German Rectors’ Conference, and Prof Jörg Reiff-Stephan, Director of the conference and AI expert at the university.

“Optics and AI – can that really work?” This question will be addressed by this year’s keynote speaker, René Hoffmann of Hoffmann & brillen GmbH, who will explore the opportunities for integrating AI into the workflows of ophthalmic optics and optometry.

Following this, specific projects will be presented in two poster sessions and five specialist sessions. The poster sessions will focus on the topics “Data for AI” and “AI in Life Sciences”. Presenters will report, among other things, on the use of synthetically generated training data to expand graffiti detection on passenger trains, intelligent workpiece carriers for production simulations, and the real-time detection of Leishmania parasites, which can cause the tropical disease leishmaniasis.

In addition, AI will be presented as a core element of cross-border educational projects in the life sciences, illustrated by the cooperation between TH Wildau and the Ukrainian Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics (NURE).

The lecture session on human–AI collaboration will feature contributions on “AI-supported control centre assistance for complex infrastructures” and the “development of digital solutions for cost-effective determination of the operational status of wastewater treatment plants”.

The topic of security and resilience is also becoming increasingly important. In the corresponding session, one of the contributions will address AI-supported hazardous materials assessment in battery and chemical logistics.

Further insights into “Regulation and Ethics” will be provided in the presentations “A maturity model for Responsible AI in public administration” and “AI-supported transparency and governance tools for regional energy systems using Brandenburg as an example”.

The remaining two sessions will address potential business models and applied AI methods. One contribution is the talk “Facial composites with AI”, based on the recently completed PhaceSpace project at TH Wildau. An introduction to WiKKI will already be available on 5 March, when the PhaceSpace project will be presented in the programme “TH Themen” on radioSKW.

WiKKI 2026 is organised and supported by the iC3 Smart Production research group at TH Wildau, the AI network NET4AI, the Mittelstand-Digital Centre Spreeland, the Brandenburg Future Centre, the digital association SiBB, and the European Digital Innovation Hub “pro_digital”.

Event details and registration
The conference will take place on 10 March 2026 on the TH Wildau campus. Interested participants can find detailed programme information and register via the central conference website: www.th-wildau.de/wikki26

Date: 10 March 2026, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Venue: TH Wildau, Hall 17, Hochschulring 1, 15745 Wildau

Background: Wildau Science Week
The conference is part of the 15th Wildau Science Week, taking place from 9 to 13 March 2026 under the motto “RESEARCH. APPLY. UNDERSTAND.” The full programme for the week is available at www.th-wildau.de/wiwo.