MODAL Berlin Algorithmic Intelligence Workshop 2025

Bridging AI, Quantum, and Optimization

Empowering Industrial Innovation Through Real-World Problem Solving and Academic-Industry Collaboration

Register

Event Details

  • Dates: 22–26 June 2025
  • Location: Forschungscampus MODAL @ ZIB Berlin & Industry Partner Sites
  • Registration Fee: €1,500
  • Certificate: MODAL Certificate of Participation
  • Contact: aiws2025@zib.de

We are pleased to announce a collaborative workshop in Berlin titled Algorithmic Intelligence, hosted by Research Campus MODAL Academy in partnership with Technische Universität Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin und Zuse Institute Berlin.

This high-level, hands-on gathering will explore the use of advanced mathematical modeling, machine learning, and quantum-inspired algorithms to tackle real-world industrial challenges. Participants will engage directly with leading academic researchers and industry professionals working on cutting-edge solutions in optimization, hybrid AI, and quantum applications.

More than just a technical event, this workshop is an opportunity to learn from experts, collaborate on real-world problems, and embrace emerging technologies in a fun, friendly, and highly connected environment.

Workshop Schedule

The workshop kicks off with an engaging evening of networking, and community building. Participants will have the chance to connect with fellow researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders in a relaxed setting—sharing ideas, previewing ongoing work, and setting the tone for a week of collaborative learning and innovation.

Day 2 features a series of high-impact talks and panel discussions on real-world applications of AI, machine learning, and optimization across diverse industries. Hear directly from experts at High-Tech industry, as they share how algorithmic intelligence is driving innovation in transport, energy, finance, and beyond.

This hands-on day offers a deep dive into modern optimization and AI techniques. Through practical exercises and interactive coding, participants will learn to model and solve mixed-integer programs, explore cutting planes, pre-solving, primal heuristics, and branching strategies. One highlight includes solving a version of the famously hard Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP)—demonstrating the surprising power of advanced mathematical programming.

This day is dedicated to on-site visits with leading industrial partners, offering participants a rare behind-the-scenes look at how AI, optimization, and quantum technologies are being applied in real-world operations. Engage directly with engineers, data scientists, and decision-makers.

Join us for a full day of talks and discussions at the intersection of quantum computing, optimization, and finance, featuring top academic and industry voices. A highlight of the workshop, this day will showcase how advanced quantum and AI technologies are beginning to transform both theory and real-world financial systems.
Time / Day
09:30
10:30
11:30
12:30
13:30
14:30
15:30
16:30
17:30
18:00
1
Sunday
22.06
Reception
Reception
18:00 - 21:00
Santa Cafe - Welcome and Networking
2
Monday
23.06
Plenary
Opening Plenary
10:30 - 11:30
Speaker: Ralf Borndörfer (ZIB/FUB)
Public Transport Optimization
Applied AI in Operations and Energy
Applied AI in Operations and Energy
11:30 - 12:30
  • Hanming Hu (NUS): Fuelture
  • Aline Janiver (EPFL): Sentiment Analysis in Bunker Fuel Portfolio Forecasting
  • Nguyen Hoa (NUS): AI Forecasting for Oil Price
  • Janina Zittel (ZIB): Forecasting Energy Transport Orders
Lunch Break
Lunch Break
12:30 - 13:30
Plenary
Plenary
13:30 - 14:30
Speaker: Rafal Weron (Wrocław UofS&T)
Machine learning for electricity price forecasting
Plenary
Plenary
14:45 - 15:30
Speaker: Thorsten Koch (ZIB/TUB)
The TSP: an Introduction
Hands-on
Hands-on
15:30 - 16:30
Instructors: T. Koch, M. Ghannam (ZIB)
Heuristic Approaches 1: Nearest Neighbour, Furthest Insertion, Simulated Annealing, 2-opt, Lin-Kernighan
Hands-on
Hands-on
16:30 - 17:30
Instructors: T. Koch, M. Ghannam (ZIB)
Dynamic Programming: Bellman-Held-Karp Algorithm
BBQ
BBQ
18:00 - 21:00
A Deep Dive into Char, Smoke & Marinade Equilibrium
3
Tuesday
24.06
Hands-on
Hands-on
10:00 - 10:30
Instructors: T. Koch, M. Ghannam (ZIB)
Integer Programming 1: Miller-Tucker-Zemlin
10:30 - 11:30
Instructors: T. Koch, M. Ghannam (ZIB)
Integer Programming 2: Subtour Elimination & Extended Formulation
Hands-on
Hands-on
11:30 - 12:30
Instructors: T. Koch, M. Ghannam (ZIB)
Integer Programming 3: Dynamic Branch-and-Cut
Lunch Break
Lunch Break
12:30 - 13:30
Talk
Talk
13:30 - 14:00
Speaker: Thorsten Koch (ZIB/TUB)
SOTA: Concorde and HKL, Wrap-up
14:00 - 15:00
Speaker: Nils Lindner (FUB)
Vehicle Routing
Tea Break
Tea Break
15:00 - 15:30
Talk
Talk
15:30 - 16:00
Speaker: Sven Leyffer (Argone NL)
TSP: the Brewery Cycling Problem
Hands-on
Hands-on
16:00 - 17:00
Instructors: T. Koch, M. Ghannam (ZIB)
Heuristic Approaches 2: Neural Networks
4
Wednesday
25.06
Excursion
Company Visit TBA
10:00 - 15:00
Led by: Ralf Borndörfer (ZIB/FUB)
5
Thursday
26.06
Plenary
Plenary
9:45 - 10:30
Speaker: Ying Chen (NUS)
Neural Tangent Kernel Implied Volatility Forecasting: A Nonlinear Functional Autoregression Approach
Talk
Talk
10:30 - 11:00
Speakers: Christa Zoufal (IBM)
Generative Quantum Machine Learning – Where do we stand?
Quantum Technology
Quantum Technology
11:15 - 11:45
Speakers: Sven Leyffer (Argone NL)
Quantum Control: Solving Discrete Quantum Optimal Control Problems

11:45 - 12:00
Speakers: Marian Stengl (ZIB)
Optimizing Quantum Circuits

12:00 - 12:15
Speakers: Jianlong Lu (NUS)
Optimizing Quantum Annealing Schedules with Neural Network Quantum State Digital Twins

12:15 - 12:30
Speakers: Paolo Recchia (NUS)
Hybrid Quantum Neural Networks with Amplitude Encoding
Lunch Break
Lunch Break
12:30 - 13:30
Finance in Industry
Finance in Industry
13:30 - 15:00
  • Antti Korhonen (Detech): Strategic financial management in the financial services industry: A multiple goal stochastic programming approach
  • Timo Berthold (FICO): FICO Xpress, Global Optimization & Financial Applications
Tea Break
Tea Break
15:00 - 15:15
Finance in Academia
Finance in Academia
15:15 - 16:15
  • Christopher Gerling (HUB): Transfer Learning with FT-MDN-Transformer for Credit Recovery
  • Lei Zhou (NUS): Innovation Value Discrepancy and Sustainable Growth
  • Hongrui Zhang (NUS): Scalable Multivariate Extreme Synthetic Data Generation via VAEs
Innovation
Innovation
16:15 - 17:15
  • Kailiang Liu (NUS): Multi-Agent RL for Operating Room Scheduling under Uncertainty
  • Guoyang Rong (Wuhan U): 40 Years of Interdisciplinary Research: Origins and Turning Points
  • Max Schicker (ZIB): Decision Trees
Closing
Closing
17:15 - 17:30
Dinner
Dinner
18:00 - 22:00
Piaza Venetia

About MODAL

The Research Campus MODAL is one of ten national research campuses funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). It represents a unique ecosystem where cutting-edge theory meets critical industrial demand.

Established by Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) and Freie Universität Berlin, and in partnership with 12 leading companies, MODAL enables researchers from academia and industry to collaborate in joint labs to solve complex, high-impact optimization problems. Core applications include railway and gas transport, as well as information-based medicine.

Note: Travel, accommodation, and personal expenses are to be covered by participants.


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