27th VDI Automation Congress: Laying the Groundwork for Industrial AI and Automation
The 27th VDI Automation Congress in Baden-Baden focused on digital data sovereignty in future industrial AI applications
About 320 experts from industry and academia discussed how companies can harness the potential of AI while maintaining control over their data. In the opening keynote, Feiyu Xu called for a European “Airbus for AI” and highlighted Europe’s strengths in industrial AI, engineering AI, physical AI, and trustworthy AI.
A panel discussion on dataspaces revealed a growing willingness within the industry to establish shared data spaces. Ulrich Ahle (Gaia-X) highlighted the importance of the technical enforceability of usage rules and common standards. Other presentations addressed European cloud infrastructures, large language models, agentic AI, and the path toward more powerful AI systems. Alongside these, a trade exhibition, a Future Zone, and parallel conferences on machine vision and building automation showcased practical solutions and application case studies.
