On July 23, 2026, another workshop was held at Startup Incubator Berlin / Cambridge Innovation Center Berlin as part of the IFAF joint project KI-InnoX. The aim of the format was to support small and medium-sized enterprises in identifying and evaluating concrete use cases for artificial intelligence and developing first implementation steps.
Ten representatives from small and medium-sized enterprises took part in the workshop. In advance, they were able to contribute their expectations, needs and questions. The participants came from different areas of the Mittelstand and the skilled trades – ranging from knowledge-intensive services to manufacturing trades.
The workshop was divided into two tracks:
Track 1: “AI Snacks”
In the first track, Christian Klang first provided a compact introduction to how artificial intelligence works, as well as its possibilities and areas of application in companies. Together with the participants, suitable AI use cases were then developed. The aim was to identify concrete starting points that could be pursued further and tested in practice within the participants’ own companies.
Track 2: “Prototyping”
The second track was aimed at participants who already came to the workshop with a concrete AI use case. Alain Mendy first gave an overview of the current AI tool landscape and presented the AI Navigator developed by HTW Berlin within the project context. The tool supports SMEs in assessing their current status in dealing with AI and identifying suitable tools for their respective goals. KI-Navigator vor. Dieser unterstützt KMU dabei, ihren aktuellen Stand im Umgang mit KI einzuschätzen und passende Tools für ihre jeweiligen Ziele zu identifizieren.
Afterwards, the participants continued working on their own AI solutions in a mini hackathon. They received practical guidance and individual support in specifying, further developing and taking first steps toward implementing their ideas.
HWR Berlin and ASH Berlin accompanied the workshop scientifically, focusing on questions of AI acceptance and key drivers of transformation in small and medium-sized enterprises.
At the end, both tracks came together for a joint exchange on their respective activities, experiences and insights. It became clear that the participants saw great added value both in the offerings provided by the universities in the KI-InnoX consortium and in the exchange with one another. Several participants expressed the wish for further follow-up formats.
The workshop once again showed how important practice-oriented, accessible and scientifically accompanied formats are in order to make AI in the Mittelstand not only a topic of theoretical discussion, but something that can be experienced and applied in concrete ways.
Further information on the IFAF joint project KI-InnoX: https://www.ifaf-berlin.de/projekte/ki-innox/
