Schlagwort: ‘KI:connect.nrw’
Basic AI Supply in North Rhine-Westphalia: How the IT Center Is Contributing With KI:connect.nrw
Source: Own Illustration
Artificial intelligence is developing rapidly at universities in North Rhine-Westphalia. To ensure that they are well positioned in the long term, common technical foundations and responsible solutions are needed.
A new paper by Digitale Hochschule NRW (DH.NRW) describes precisely this approach. It shows how basic AI services can be established for all universities in North Rhine-Westphalia.
KI:connect.nrw – On the Path to 350,000 Users
Source: Own Illustration
In our first post, we introduced the launch of the KI:connect.nrw project. The aim of the project is to provide universities in NRW with a privacy-compliant and customizable way of using generative AI via the central webinterface of KI:connect. In the meantime, there has been significant progress: The following five universities are now successfully connected and are actively using KI:connect:
- FernUniversität in Hagen
- Fachhochschule Aachen
- Hochschule Ruhr West
- RWTH Aachen University
- Technische Hochschule Köln
This means that KI:connect is now available to more than 170,000 students and staff in the fields of study, teaching, and research.
AI-Tech MeetUp NRW 2025 in Bochum
Source: Own Illustration
On Monday, September 22, 2025, the AI-Tech MeetUp NRW — a collaboration between the state projects Open Source-KI.nrw, KI:edu.nrw, and KI:connect.nrw—took place at Ruhr University Bochum with a focus on (generative) artificial intelligence. We, as the IT Center of RWTH Aachen University, were also represented at this exciting event as participants and project partners.
KI:connect.nrw – Generative AI for All Universities in North Rhine-Westphalia
Source: Own Illustration
We have already told you about RWTHgpt in our previous posts. Due to the success of RWTHgpt, RWTH Aachen University decided in the summer of 2024 to make the infrastructure used at RWTHgpt available to other universities throughout the state in the future. This led to the creation of the KI:connect.nrw project, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science.
Towards the Future with AI – How the IT Center Is Supporting RWTH Aachen University on Its Way into the AI Age
Source: Pixabay
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a topic for the future – it has arrived in the centre of society and is changing the way we research, learn and work. As one of Europe’s leading technical universities, it is therefore crucial for RWTH Aachen University to actively engage with the potential and challenges of this technology.
As RWTH’s central IT facility, the IT Center plays a central role in this: it develops technical solutions, ensures a data protection-compliant infrastructure and creates new services that enable the use of AI in the university context.
And not just since yesterday: For some time now, the IT Center has been working intensively on making artificial intelligence usable for the entire university.
EUNIS2025 Best Paper Award: Award for the IT Center
Source: Own illustration
We are pleased to announce that Bernd Decker and Denise Dittrich, from the IT Center at RWTH Aachen University, have won the EUNIS 2025 Best Paper Award. In their award-winning paper, entitled ‘Cost Management for the Use of Generative AI in Higher Education: A Case Study from North Rhine-Westphalia’, the authors highlight the key functions of cost management within KI:connect.nrw and share their experiences of using it at RWTH Aachen University.
