{"id":23318,"date":"2025-12-03T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/?p=23318"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T13:58:20","slug":"westai-konsortialtreffen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2025\/12\/03\/westai-konsortialtreffen\/","title":{"rendered":"WestAI: Review, Exchange, and Outlook \u2013 An Overview of the Consortium Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_23318 social_share_privacy clearfix 1.6.4 locale-en_US sprite-en_US\"><\/div><div class=\"twoclick-js\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\njQuery(document).ready(function($){if($('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_23318')){$('.twoclick_social_bookmarks_post_23318').socialSharePrivacy({\"txt_help\":\"Wenn Sie diese Felder durch einen Klick aktivieren, werden Informationen an Facebook, Twitter, Flattr, Xing, t3n, LinkedIn, Pinterest oder Google eventuell ins Ausland \\u00fcbertragen und unter Umst\\u00e4nden auch dort gespeichert. N\\u00e4heres erfahren Sie durch einen Klick auf das <em>i<\\\/em>.\",\"settings_perma\":\"Dauerhaft aktivieren und Daten\\u00fcber-tragung zustimmen:\",\"info_link\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.heise.de\\\/ct\\\/artikel\\\/2-Klicks-fuer-mehr-Datenschutz-1333879.html\",\"uri\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\\\/itc\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/03\\\/westai-konsortialtreffen\\\/\",\"post_id\":23318,\"post_title_referrer_track\":\"WestAI%3A+Review%2C+Exchange%2C+and+Outlook+%E2%80%93+An+Overview+of+the+Consortium+Meeting\",\"display_infobox\":\"on\"});}});\n\/* ]]> *\/<\/script><\/div><p><div id=\"attachment_21086\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21086\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-21086\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/01\/Blog-Layout-1-300x200.png\" alt=\"Logo of WestAI\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/01\/Blog-Layout-1-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/01\/Blog-Layout-1-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/01\/Blog-Layout-1-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/01\/Blog-Layout-1-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/01\/Blog-Layout-1-2048x1365.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-21086\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/westai.de\/en\/landingpage\/\">WestAI<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/2025\/01\/22\/westai-2\/\">AI Service Center WestAI<\/a>, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMFTR, formerly BMBF), is one of four nationally funded AI service centers in Germany and is a central point of contact for applied artificial intelligence in North Rhine-Westphalia. The center aims to accelerate the transfer of AI research into practical applications and, in particular, to provide small and medium-sized enterprises and research teams with low-threshold access to modern AI technologies.<\/p>\n<p>In this blog post, we take a look at the current role of WestAI, summarize the most important results of the latest consortium meeting, and provide an outlook on the further developments planned for the coming years.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The consortium includes the University of Bonn (coordination), RWTH Aachen University, Forschungszentrum J\u00fclich, TU Dortmund University, the University of Paderborn, and the Fraunhofer Institutes IAIS, FIT, and SCAI. Together, they combine expertise in consulting, research, operations, and development.<\/p>\n<p>WestAI offers a wide range of services: from initial AI consultations to access to powerful HPC hardware and an AI software stack, to training courses, test environments, and API access to self-hosted large language models via the IT Center. WestAI thus enables the secure testing and use of modern models while maintaining data sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">A Review of the Past Funding Period<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>During the current consortium meeting, the key progress made in the last project phase was reviewed. The effectiveness of the central contact point and the helpdesk system was particularly noteworthy. Requests are distributed efficiently, and the number of initial consultations with AI experts is steadily increasing.<\/p>\n<p>There has also been significant growth in the use of the AI hardware provided and API access to self-hosted large language models (LLM). There is active demand for the infrastructure, and initial applications in this area demonstrate how valuable data-sovereign access to modern models is. In addition, the partners&#8217; research teams presented numerous scientific papers and methodological developments at renowned AI conferences.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Strategies for the Upcoming Funding Period<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The meeting also provided an opportunity to look ahead. Concrete measures were developed for the 2026\/2027 funding period to further expand services and meet new needs at an early stage.<\/p>\n<p>The focus is on, among other things, further developing public relations work to address research and industry in an even more targeted manner, as well as creating success stories and webinars. A WestAI chatbot is also being developed to give interested parties a quicker introduction to questions relating to AI offerings.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the consortium plans to expand its resources in the area of generative AI. The aim is to facilitate access to text-based and multimodal models and thus also support scenarios in which proprietary AI agents are developed. At the same time, there will be an even stronger focus on transferring scientific findings into practical applications.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-2 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-2' class='gallery galleryid-23318 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00008-1-300x225.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00008-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00008-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00008-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00008-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00008-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00001-1-300x225.jpeg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"WestAI\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00001-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00001-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00001-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00001-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/image00001-1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_8122-1-225x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-2-23330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_8122-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_8122-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_8122-1-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_8122-1-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/files\/2025\/12\/IMG_8122-1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-2-23330'>\n\t\t\t\tSources: Fraunhofer IAIS\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #00549f;\">Further Information<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>More information about WestAI&#8217;s offerings is available on the <a href=\"https:\/\/westai.de\/en\/landingpage\/\">website<\/a>. Information on the application process for API access to self-hosted LLMs can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/help.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/service\/5a9d03f1675f4f85ac9b3fd7bb853d44\/\">IT Center Help<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Responsible for the content of this article are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.itc.rwth-aachen.de\/cms\/it-center\/it-center\/profil\/team\/~epvp\/mitarbeiter-campus-\/?allou=1&amp;gguid=PER-PLDTKW3&amp;lidx=1\">Jannis Klinkenberg<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rwth-aachen.de\/cms\/root\/wir\/kontakt-anreise\/kontakt\/~bdfr\/mitarbeiter-campus-\/?gguid=PER-N6AW3XB&amp;lidx=1&amp;allou=1\">Arlinda Ujkani<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sorry, this entry is only available in Deutsch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3308,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"c2c_always_allow_admin_comments":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[924,312,1514,316],"tags":[23,620,1511,1045,1044],"class_list":["post-23318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hpcnews","category-insight-it-center","category-ki","category-projekte-kooperationen","tag-hpc","tag-ki","tag-llm","tag-servicezentrum","tag-westai"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23318"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23336,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23318\/revisions\/23336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.rwth-aachen.de\/itc\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}