Interdisciplinarity

Research at the chair is interdisciplinary and combines perspectives from Business Administration, Engineering, Information Systems and Computer Science. In addition, there are close links to legal informatics, in particular to issues of data protection, intellectual property and digital products.

This interdisciplinary orientation is a direct result of the research subject itself: the design and use of data- and AI-supported information systems in organizations that systematically bring together business, technical, regulatory and didactic perspectives. A central focus of this research is the collaboration with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI).

A central example is the AI real-world laboratory CRAI (Center of Research and Development of Trustworthy AI Applications for Mid-Sized Companies). The real-world laboratory specifically addresses the combination of Information Systems, business administration, computer science/AI and regulation. The aim is to develop and evaluate trustworthy AI-based information systems under real organizational, economic and regulatory conditions. CRAI thus forms a central empirical and conceptual framework for research into the digital transformation of companies.

In addition, the Green-AI Hub and the CITAH (European Digital Innovation Hub) should also be mentioned. Both initiatives bundle interdisciplinary research into the sustainable and industrial use of AI and expand the work of CRAI to include ecological and European perspectives.

Questions of didactic transformation are being addressed, for example, as part of the YouCodeGirls initiative. The focus is on developing and testing didactic concepts and learning formats to promote programming and AI skills. The initiative illustrates that interdisciplinarity in the Chair's research also systematically incorporates aspects of learning, qualification and social participation.