SCO-TTi research team grows

“It’s important to me to exemplify the values I hope to see in the world,” says Tanja Schwarz. Since early June, she has been part of the HSZG as a research assistant in the BMBF project “PerspektiveArbeit Lausitz” at the Faculty of Business Administration and Engineering Management in the SCO-TTi research team led by Prof. Dr. Sophia Keil.

In this project, five universities and 27 companies in Saxony and Brandenburg are conducting research and working to make work in the Lausitz region more efficient, attractive, and healthier through data-driven assistance systems. AI is thus being used to support structural change in the Lausitz region and create new employment opportunities to facilitate the transition from the coal industry to a long-term stable and sustainable economy. This is being done while taking into account the core values of people-centeredness, sustainability, and competitiveness. The term “PAL” means “buddy” in English; the AI solutions are intended to serve as a welcome source of support for users.

There are 2 PAL research groups at the HSZG that cooperate closely with each other. At the Zittau site, we are investigating ways of integrating AI into the value chains of regional SMEs in the production and logistics sector. Our focus here is on the development of chatbots that can be used internally for training purposes, employee competence support, document management support and externally for customer requirements such as product support. In order to ensure the protection of company data, the internal chatbots should operate offline, while chatbots for customer companies are secured using other methods such as VPN and firewalls. In addition, we are researching the acceptance behavior of employees with regard to the use of chatbots.