The Software Campus Communities of Practice
A learning and networking opportunity all in one
Our Communities of Practice (CoPs) serve as a dynamic connection bringing together our bright-minded participants, our Industry Partners and our German Research Partner institutions. The CoPs are dedicated to encouraging collaborative exchange, innovative thinking, and knowledge transfer in a topic-tailored way.
These eight topic-related CoPs were founded, as also an entrepreneurship CoP across research topics:
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Computer Vision
- Cybersecurity and Privacy
- Hardware and Systems Engineering
- Data Science and Analysis
- IoT and Distributed Systems
- Agile and Software Development
- Interdisciplinary Machine Learning
Through peer-to-peer mentoring, we will mediate activities for participants to share their project’s progress and get feedback. At the same time, the industry and research partners, and our Software Campus network of company founders and experts will contribute insights into the real-world applications, use cases, and challenges of the field. This exclusive space, counting with both online and in-person events, offers numerous opportunities for guidance and relationship-building.
At the Software Campus, we believe that interdisciplinary collaborative work is an invaluable tool for expanding our understanding and broadening our perspectives. This space is designed to facilitate such dynamics.
Behind the code
Discover the latest edition of our paper series covering the projects and activities in our communities of practice:
Computer Vision Insights: Smart Vision for a Smarter World
Published: Nov 2024
Topics:
- Smart factories: Balancing workspace safety and privacy
- Sensors and Activity Recognition, an innovative way to make our cities smarter
- The Growing role of biometrics and facial recognition
- Medical computer and diffusion models
Communities of Practice
Active members
Hours of events
Our current Communities of Practice
Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Whether your project focuses on building new NLP architectures, applying knowledge graphs and other tools to improve models’ performance, or tuning summarization and mining strategies, here you will find a space to share ideas, methodologies, and the NLP best practices, technologies, and latest trends.
Events
- On October 2023 we had our first NLP kick-off online event, where participants from different SWC rounds introduced themselves and their topics. The Software Campus team introduced the idea of our very first CoP and gathered important feedback.
- At the first NLP Specialist Talk, in early December 2023, we had our Industry Partner DATEV discussing the challenges of using generative AI systems in real use cases.
- In April 2024 we had the opportunity to hear from two specialists from our research institutes TU Berlin and the DFKI on the challenges and potential influences of the new AI Act on NLP research and innovation. Vera Schmitt and our alumnus Salar Mohtaj covered the topic in a very engaging talk.
- In June 2024 we had our first Project Discussion Session, where the participants Tanise Pagnan Ceron (Universität Stuttgart) and Aleksandr Perevalov (Universität Paderborn) presented their project ideas and discussed with the community members their current challenges and achievements. Tanise’s project MULTIVIEW focuses on developing new filtering strategies to expand news recommendations, reducing the dangers of polarization and strengthening information plurality. Meanwhile, Aleksandr showed his strategies to apply semantic search engines with a focus on material sciences, a field yet not well explored. Both participants are supported by Holtzbrinck as an Industry Partner.
Paper Series "Behind the code"
NLP Insights: Unrevealing Innovation in Textual Intelligence (published: May 2024)
Computer Vision
This is the Computer Vision Community of Practice. Here we will be focusing on projects covering smart cities and factories, autonomous driving, medical robotics, biometric systems, and more. You will have the chance to expand your horizons with various strategies and the most updated tools to improve Computer Vision tasks.
Events
- At our kick-off event in March/2024, participants from multiple rounds got to know each other and learned about the CoP dynamics and plan for the year. The group suggested topics of interest to be covered at our next event, the Computer Vision Specialist Talk.
Paper series "Behind the code"
Computer Vision Insights: Smart Vision for a Smarter World (published: Nov 2024)
Cybersecurity and Privacy
At the Cybersecurity and Privacy Community of Practice, we are focused on the most up-to-date strategies to safeguard digital environments. The participant’s projects span various topics, like the development of cryptographic techniques for safe communication and cloud systems, the design of robust defense structures against cyber-attacks, the exploitation of ethical implications on data privacy, and more. Here, tackling the best practices in preserving data confidentiality and transparency in our increasingly digital world, is the main goal.
Hardware and Systems Engineering
This Community of Practice is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of computational infrastructure. Our projects include designing innovative hardware architectures, optimizing systems performance, and ensuring reliability and efficiency in next-generation computation. Let’s learn and build together the backbone of tomorrow’s technologies.
Data Science and Analysis
At the Data Science and Analysis Community of Practice, we are at the forefront of extracting meaningful insights from complex datasets. Our projects explore advanced machine learning algorithms, predictive analytics, and data usability and visualization techniques to solve real-world problems. With us, you will learn and expand your knowledge in producing valuable interpretations and driving strategic decision-making through innovative methodologies in machine learning and AI.
IoT and Distributed Systems
In the world of IoT and Distributed Systems, our Community of Practice comes with projects involving the design of secure IoT protocols, distributed systems optimization, and enhancing the interoperability of networked devices. The focus of our Computer Scientists in this domain is to explore the future of connected technologies to make our future smarter and more efficient.
Agile and Software Development
The Agile and Software Development Community of Practice focuses on advancing the principles and practices of modern software engineering. Our projects span the use and application of agile methodologies, developing scalable software solutions, and improving the software development lifecycle.
Interdisciplinary Machine Learning
This Community of Practice is dedicated to exploring the vast application range of Machine Learning (ML) across multiple domains. The projects in this community focus on leveraging novel ML algorithms and techniques to bridge disciplines and drive innovation and scientific discoveries.
Paper Series “Behind the Code”
© Stefanie Loos