The SCO-TTi research team is delighted about the BMBF project PAL and Tanja Schwarz as a research assistant.
"It is important to me to exemplify the values that I hope to see in the world," says Tanja Schwarz. Since the beginning of June, she has been part of the HSZG as a research assistant in the BMBF project "PerspektiveArbeit Lausitz" at the Faculty of Economics and Industrial Engineering in the SCO-TTi research team under the direction of Prof. Dr. Sophia Keil.
In the project, 5 universities and 27 companies in Saxony and Brandenburg are researching and working on using data-based assistance systems to make work in Lusatia efficient, attractive and healthier. The aim is to use AI to support structural change in the Lusatia region and create new employment opportunities in order to facilitate the transition from the coal industry to a long-term, stable and sustainable economy. This will be done while taking into account the core values of people-centricity, sustainability and competitiveness. The term PAL in English means "buddy", meaning that the AI solutions are intended to serve as welcome 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.
At the Görlitz site, a skills management system is being set up simultaneously and research is being conducted into optimizing work design. The PerspektiveArbeit Lausitz project also aims to promote the exchange of current AI research to advance the region. To this end, our PAL team from Görlitz and Zittau attended the Saxony Digital Forum in Löbau on 10 June, where they presented their own project and discussed digitalization strategies in Saxony with other companies and research institutions.
We would now like to briefly introduce our new employee Tanja Schwarz. She feels very connected to Zittau and came to appreciate the region during her Master's degree in Business Ethics & Responsible Management at IHI Zittau. She had previously completed her bachelor's degree in economics at the TU Dresden. After graduating, she completed a 6-month internship at the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit in the field of internal sustainability and quality management. She then worked as a specialist consultant for environmental management systems at a Dresden-based consulting firm.
However, since she has a passion for research and one of her areas of interest is the design of humane work in the age of digitalization, she is now happy to be part of the interdisciplinary PAL team and to research and work at the HSZG. In her free time, she usually devotes herself to outdoor activities such as hiking, cycling and climbing, for which the region is also a wonderful place. She is particularly happy to work closely with the SCO-TTi team (Science Center Oberlausitz) at the HSZG so that all projects can benefit from each other through cooperation.
Project duration:
01 .10.2023–31.10.2026
Funding:
The underlying project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research under the funding code 02L19C329.
