Calling Startups and SMEs – AI Innovation Competition

Empowering Startups and SMEs in Hessen to Shape the Future of AI

The AI Innovation Competition, organized by the hessian.AI Innovation Lab, is an exciting opportunity for startups and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) based in Hessen, Germany, to access cutting-edge resources and expert guidance to bring their AI projects to life. Whether you’re developing innovative AI models or scaling existing solutions, this competition is designed to help you succeed.

Participants will have exclusive access to Supercomputer 42, located in Darmstadt, Hessen, powered by NVIDIA A100 GPUs, one of the most advanced GPUs for AI and deep learning applications. This state-of-the-art infrastructure will enable participants to tackle computationally intensive AI challenges and bring their ideas to life.

Why Participate?

• Access to high-performance GPU resources: Each winning team will receive access to 4 GPUs for 3 months (equivalent to 8,640 GPU hours per team).
• Expert mentoring and workshops: Gain hands-on guidance from AI experts and participate in technical workshops to enhance your project.
• Showcase your innovation: Present your project at a public award ceremony and gain visibility within the AI community.
• Be part of a growing AI ecosystem: Join a network of innovators and contribute to the advancement of AI in Hessen.

Prizes

Winning Teams (3 Teams):

• Access to 8,640 GPU hours on Supercomputer 42, powered by NVIDIA A100 GPUs (4 GPUs running 24/7 for 3 months).
• 10 hours of mentoring from AI experts.
• Participation in technical workshops to support project implementation.

Scaling Excellence Award:

• One team will receive an additional 8,640 GPU hours for demonstrating exceptional use of the cluster’s scaling capabilities.

Not based in Hessen?

We’d still love to hear from you! Let us know about your interest in this program as we are looking into options to provide similar opportunities outside of Hessen. Please fill out our Form:

What Kind of Projects Are We Looking For?

The AI Innovation Competition is designed to support practical, application-focused AI projects that bring AI into real-world use cases. We encourage startups and SMEs to submit projects that align with one of the following scenarios:

1. Roadmap Projects:
   If your startup or SME already has an AI project on its roadmap, this competition can help you take it to the next level. For example:
   • A startup developing an AI-powered audio transcription and translation system could use the resources to improve the accuracy of its speaker diarization feature, enabling better differentiation between multiple speakers in multilingual audio recordings.
2. Exploratory Projects:
   Have you ever had an idea for an AI project but lacked the resources to pursue it? This competition is your chance to explore that idea. For example:
   • An SME could experiment with natural language processing to create a chatbot for customer service.
   • A startup could explore computer vision to develop a prototype for a new product.

The key is to focus on applied AI—projects that solve real-world problems or create tangible value. This competition is not intended for basic research but for projects that demonstrate how AI can be implemented in practice.

Who Can Participate?

The competition is open exclusively to startups and SMEs based in Hessen, Germany. Applicants must submit a project proposal that:

• Focuses on training and scaling AI models.
• Demonstrates innovation and potential for real-world application.
• Can be realistically implemented within the 3-month timeframe.
• Has the potential to create societal, economic, or technological impact.

Timeline

Evaluation Process

A jury of experts will evaluate all submissions based on the following criteria:

• Innovation: How unique and groundbreaking is the project?
• Technical Focus: Does the project focus on training and scaling AI models?
• Feasibility: Can the project be realistically implemented within 3 months?
• Impact: What societal, economic, or technological benefits could the project bring?

The jury will consist of representatives from the hessian.AI Innovation Lab, industry leaders, government officials, and startup experts. Their expertise ensures a fair and professional evaluation process.

Intellectual Property (IP) and Documentation

We understand the importance of protecting your intellectual property. All Intellectual Property remains with the participants. The competition organizers will only use information about the projects for documentation and marketing purposes related to the event. No proprietary details will be shared without your consent.

Legal Framework

Participation is subject to the terms and conditions of the hessian.AI Innovation Lab.