NEWS IN ENGLISH | WELT awards AI Prize 2022
WELT awards AI Prize 2022
2022-09-30 13:22:00



Photo: Axel Springer
Axel Springer's German media brand WELT awarded the "German AI Prize 2022" on Thursday evening. With this, WELT honors groundbreaking achievements in the development and application of artificial intelligence. The event took place at the Axel Springer headquarter in Berlin and could additionally be followed via stream. The prize was awarded for the fourth time.

The award was decided by a jury made up of internationally renowned representatives from research and practice. This year's chairman is once again the Frankfurt-based entrepreneur Chris Boos, founder of the AI company Arago, and one of the most important thought leaders in the industry. The AI Special Award (endowed with 10,000 euros) was chosen from the finalists by the guests and the digital audience that evening.

Klaus Boldt, member of the WELT Editorial Board: "The German AI Prize, which we have awarded for the first time in 2019, is intended to help promote AI research in Germany, accelerate the transfer of knowledge to industry, and advance the ethically responsible use of AI. And like this we also see the "German AI Prize" as a contribution to Germany as a business location."

Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Federal Minister of Education and Research, FDP, gave a keynote speech: "Using and helping to shape artificial intelligence means creating the future. With long-term research and smart transfer, we are striving for technological sovereignty and a global pioneering role for Germany. We have already done a lot in this area, and now we want to further strengthen networking in AI. The winners of the German AI Prize are the best example of how you can shape the future with courage, good ideas and imagination."

Innovation prize for Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard

The "German AI Prize 2022", which at 35,000 euros is one of the most highly endowed prizes of its kind in Europe, was once again awarded in three categories this year: The innovation prize was awarded to Prof. Dr. Wolfram Burgard from the Technical University of Nuremberg.

Jury president Chris Boos: "Wolfram Burgard is a prime example of those AI pioneers who are taking us forward in Europe. His scientific contributions are innovative, fundamental to the research of many others and, above all, fit for practice. In addition, he also brings the necessary personal courage and unwavering personal commitment that we so desperately need. He recently proved this once again as the founding chair in Nuremberg, and one can only take one's hat off to that."

User Award for Ada Health

The non-endowed user award went to the Berlin-based company Ada Health. In his statement, Chris Boos said, "With Ada Health, we are honoring an AI user who has achieved what so many who only 'play around' with AI fail to do, namely roll out." AI and data play a central role in all areas at Ada, from the patient app and the detection of comparable disease profiles to research in the field of rare diseases. It is this quality that we are looking for in the AI User Award. Ada Health is creating a real foundation for the next generation of medical diagnosis."

Special prize for Planer AI

This year's special AI award went to Planer AI, a platform for optimizing food order quantities.