Brush up your ideas
The BAIOSPHERE and the Speinshart Scientific Center for AI and SuperTech (SSC) give you the space you need. The special thing: We finance. You research. Accommodation, meals, rooms - all included. What matters is your idea.
BIOSPHERE x SSC is more than just a funding opportunity. It is a platform for interdisciplinary networking, scientific energy, and concrete results. The SSC becomes a meeting point for all those who want to advance AI in Bavaria - open, excellent, and cooperative.
With the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria (HTA), the Free State has been driving one of the most ambitious innovation offensives in Europe since 2019, with the aim of securing Bavaria's leading position in science and technology. A key lever: the targeted promotion of Artificial Intelligence, coordinated by the Bavarian AI Agency.
Formatting & Content
Duration: approx. 3-5 days | Number of participants: up to 25 people
Workshops
The workshops provide a structured framework for intensive scientific collaboration - with space for new ideas, concrete project approaches, as well as focused work on third-party funding applications or scientific publications.
Content
Topic and objective with connection to one of the two main topics: AI in Basics and Applications or Transfer & Business Start-up
Retreats - connect@Speinshart
For established or new research teams who want to work together in a closed circle on a common research agenda: Retreats provide the appropriate framework for in-depth content, strategic alignment, and sustainable collaborations in the field of AI.
Application & Requirements
Who can apply?
The program specifically strengthens the networking idea and is aimed particularly at newly appointed professors from the BAIOSPHERE. We invite the entire community to actively participate - from established researchers to young scientists and actors from the innovation ecosystem and the economy.
Eligible to apply are tandems consisting of the following group of people:
At least one person should have been appointed to a Bavarian university in the last 5 years or lead a research group at a non-university research institution.
The second person can also hold a professorship - alternatively, they should have independent professional responsibility, such as leading a research group, being an advanced postdoc, or being an entrepreneur or innovator with a clear connection to the topic.
A prerequisite for submitting an application should be a group of participants of at least ten people, including representatives of at least two different colleges or universities.
Which documents need to be submitted?
For workshops:
Topic and objective with connection to one of the two main topics: AI in Fundamentals and Applications or Transfer & Business Start-up
Scientific classification and expected output
List of potential participants
After the event: Results report (approx. 600 words) including photos and, if applicable, achieved results (e.g. approved third-party funding, publications, founding).
For retreats (connect@Speinshart):
Short description & Objectives
Thematic Classification
List of potential participants
After the event: Results report (approx. 600 words) including photos.
The content design and thematic focus of the workshops and retreats are the responsibility of the applying tandem.
A selection committee of the Bavarian AI Council evaluates the incoming applications according to the above-mentioned criteria and provides a funding recommendation to the scientific advisory board of the SSC.
Financing
Participation in the workshops and retreats at the Science Center Speinshart is fully funded for you. The program is supported by the Bavarian AI Agency and the Speinshart Scientific Center for AI and SuperTech It covers and takes care of all costs incurred - so that you can focus entirely on scientific exchange and the development of your projects.
Included in the scope of funding:
Accommodation and meals during the entire duration of the workshop
Conference rooms and infrastructure at the Speinshart Monastery
Travel expenses the participants according to the Bavarian Travel Expenses Act