5 August 2026 | Tübingen, Heilbronn, Lake Constance, Weinstadt

Last month at Cyber Valley: July

July 2026 Highlights

A lot was happening at Cyber Valley last month. Here’s a quick roundup of our highlights from July. Find out how Cyber Valley’s mission to translate excellent research into real-world applications for a better future for everyone came to life.

Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting at Lake Constance

On July 3, we took part in the 75th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, where around 75 Nobel laureates and several hundred young scientists from around the world gathered for a boat trip across Lake Constance to the island of Mainau.

Invited to introduce the Cyber Valley in a three-minute pitch, we presented our mission to translate excellent AI research into practical applications. We also welcomed participants at the Cyber Valley booth and discussed career opportunities with young researchers.

The day concluded with a high-ranking panel discussion, "How to Rebuild Trust in Science?" on the island of Mainau with Nobel Laureate of 2011 Saul Perlmutter, Nobel Laureate of 2013 Randy W. Schekman, Nobel Laureate of 2018 Donna Strickland, and others. The discussion explored how in an age of misinformation and polarization, education can rebuild trust in science. The panel explored the foundations of credibility, curiosity, and critical thinking in a rapidly changing world.

Photo: Cyber Valley

International Researchers in Tübingen

One week later, it was a pleasure to welcome a group of early-career researchers to Tübingen on July 7 after the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.

During their stop at Cyber Valley, around 18 international PhD and postdoc researchers explored AI research and career opportunities in Baden-Württemberg. The visit included exchange with our network, lab tours, and insights from academia and start-ups.

The program included talks by Anand Waghmare (Yugen Space), Colin Dumont (Tübingen AI Center), and Ivan De Araujo (Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics), as well as a lab visit to the Max Planck Institute for Biology.

Such exchanges demonstrate the importance of collaboration for the Cyber Valley mission: turning AI and robotics research into a more sustainable future for all.

Photo: Cyber Valley

Cyber Valley Impulse on agriculture, sustainability, and the environment

On July 8, the Cyber Valley Impulse on agriculture, sustainability, and the environment, co-hosted with Zukunftsstiftung Remstal, took place in Weinstadt. Experts from research and industry came together to exchange ideas and explore real-world applications. The event considered the applications of intelligent systems in agriculture, landscape management, and sustainability. With advances in AI, machine learning, and robotics, new forms of agricultural and landscape-care automation are becoming increasingly realistic, opening up questions about which tasks robots should take on first, what kinds of farming systems and landscapes we want to create, and how research, industry, and practice can contribute to this transformation.

Thanks to all our speakers and start-ups for sharing their insights and driving the conversation forward: Wieland Brendel (ELLIS Institute Tübingen, Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme), Paul Hofmann (ELLIS Institute Tübingen, Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme), Peter Ohlhausen (Fakultät NXT Nachhaltigkeit und Technologie - Hochschule Reutlingen), Zoe Rühlmann (SAM-DIMENSION), Christian Dreischer (Computomics), Johannes Schwegler (Zukunftsstiftung Remstal, TREEO)), Martin Kiefel and Sebastian Blaes (polybot), and Andy Clifton (enerlace).

Photo: Cyber Valley

Cyber Valley AI Incubator Batch #8: Demo Day

The Demo Day of the Cyber Valley AI Incubator, hosted at Cyber Valley in Tübingen, brought together a full auditorium of founders, investors, researchers, industry leaders, and AI enthusiasts to celebrate the next generation of AI start-ups on July 10.

The event opened with remarks from Christoph Keplinger and Leila Masri (Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme), who reflected on the remarkable journey of Batch #8. We also welcomed Phil-Alan Gaertig, PhD from the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, whose continued support makes this program possible. The keynote, Axel Sauer from Black Forest Labs, introduced the company’s work and shared valuable insights into the development of AI models and the future of visual intelligence.

The spotlight then turned to the seven AI Incubator teams, who pitched their ideas before an outstanding jury consisting of: Daisy Paiva (ZEISS Ventures), Franziska Ivens (Silicon Allee at Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute HHI), and Christoph Keplinger (Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme).

Selecting the winners was no easy task, as every team demonstrated impressive innovation, technical excellence, and entrepreneurial potential.

Congratulations to our award winners!

Audience and presentation award:

Sehnsora: Mohammed Raihan Soniwala, Shweta K. Yograj Yadav, and Abhishek Vijay P.

Best business model award:

CoGraph: Magnus T. Hornstein and Bela Thraen.

Use of AI award:

OptiGrocer: Ifeoma Veronica Nwabufo and Ornela Megne.

Thanks to all founders, mentors, trainers, jury members, speakers, partners, and guests who made this journey so memorable. We can't wait to see where these start-ups go next. Congratulations to all teams for an outstanding Demo Day!

The Cyber Valley AI Incubator empowers scientists and entrepreneurs with promising AI ideas to begin their entrepreneurial journey. Over several weeks, participants receive hands-on training, mentoring, and access to leading experts, founders, and investors. Each full-day session focuses on a specific topic — from team building and market analysis to prototyping, business models, and pitching — equipping participants with actionable insights and a growing network.

The Cyber Valley AI Incubator is funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung and organized by the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.

Applications for Batch #9 are now open: https://ai-incubator.is.mpg.de/ai_incbuator_batch_9

Photo: MPI-IS

Campus Tour in Tübingen

It was a pleasure to welcome so many interested guests to our Campus Tour in Tübingen on July 16!

As part of our new Cyber Valley Innovation Campus Tours series, participants get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Europe’s largest center for excellence in AI and robotics. In addition to an introductory presentation, guests can join a guided tour of the Campus in Tübingen and learn more about the people, research, and innovation driving the ecosystem.

At Cyber Valley, our mission is to translate AI and robotics research into real-world solutions that benefit people, industry, and society. Engaging with the public and opening our doors to the community is an important part of that mission.

Photo: Cyber Valley

Ontic Labs and Feyer selected for SPRIND's Next Frontier AI Challenge

Ontic Labs and Feyer have been selected for the first stage of the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation’s (SPRIND) Next Frontier AI Challenge. The two start-ups are among just ten teams across Europe that have been selected and will receive €3 million to develop technologies beyond today's AI models.

Photo: Cyber Valley

KI Festival by IPAI Foundation in Heilbronn

On July 25 and 26, we had a great time at the KI Festival by IPAI Foundation in Heilbronn!

During the weekend, we had the pleasure of joining the KI Festival with our own booth. It was a great opportunity to connect with the Heilbronn community, engage with a curious public, and meet inspiring innovators and companies while sharing more about the Cyber Valley ecosystem. A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth and took the time to chat with us!

We are grateful to the IPAI Foundation for bringing together such a great community and creating a great space for exchange around AI and innovation.

We’re looking forward to future collaborations with IPAI and to continuing to strengthen the AI ecosystem together!

Photo: Cyber Valley