Brain City Ambassador Prof. Dr. Christina Kratsch

Brain City Berlin

How does AI work successfully and securely in companies? Prof. Dr. Christina Kratsch deals with questions like these. The Brain City Ambassador is a professor of Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering at the HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences. As part of the university’s “KI-Werkstatt” (AI Workspace), she deals with potential AI applications in companies – teaming up with highly motivated students.

“Starting on a greenfield site, the prototypical aspect of new AI projects appeals to me. Creating initial understanding and trust. This is a phase in which you have to explain a lot, select a lot and take many different aspects into account,” says Prof. Dr. Christina Kratsch. “In addition, this phase can be wonderfully combined with the practice-oriented teaching at HTW Berlin.” Christina Kratsch has been a professor in the Department of Engineering at the HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences since the end of 2022. She brings practical experience with her, as before her time at the university she worked as a research manager, consultant and data scientist in the business world. “I was able to observe various AI projects there and see why they can fail later on. Later, I became very involved in innovation management,” says the Brain City Ambassador. The core questions she deals with in her research: How can Artificial Intelligence be successful in a company? Where does the process begin? And: How do you get Generative AI up and running? Kratsch: “We prefer to do this in use cases that are somewhat more demanding than the average customer chatbot.”

Christina Kratsch herself conducts interdisciplinary research projects with colleagues from various disciplines, closely involving students. On the ground, in the companies. The framework for this is the “KI Werkstatt” (“AI Workspace”) at HTW Berlin. A place for joint teaching, research and application of AI technology, funded by the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Aeronautics (formerly BMBF). A physical space at the university – and at the same time an interdisciplinary infrastructure that also integrates companies in an application-orientated and project-specific way. In the QuaLlamA project, for example, the Workspace team is analysing the quality of large language models. The researchers systematically address the evaluation and assurance of the quality and output of Generative AI under realistic, company-related conditions. “We are currently conducting a lot of research into the benchmarking of complex, mostly ‘agentic’ AI systems. As soon as AI becomes more complicated than a chatbot or a text generator, it is often difficult to recognise reliably whether a system is healthy and stable. And whether it works well. In business practice, however, this is an essential criterion for trust in such systems.” The KI Werkstatt also works closely with non-university research institutions, such as the Society for the Advancement of Applied Computer Science (GfAI) in Berlin-Adlershof. Contacts also exist with the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) in Potsdam-Babelsberg.

The size and diversity of Berlin’s ecosystem are fantastic - the large number of research institutes and research-related companies, the entrepreneurial spirit.

Christina Kratsch is originally from Thuringia – despite this, or perhaps because of it, she now feels at home in Berlin. “I studied computer science at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena and really enjoyed the atmosphere and way of life in the city. Jena is very cosmopolitan, changeable, modern, young. Free-spirited in the best sense of the word. And Berlin is like Jena in many respects, only bigger. Of course, there are also things in Berlin that drive you crazy, but I like the changeable, cosmopolitan, new start-friendly aspect of the city.”

The Brain City Ambassador has lived and worked in Berlin since 2014 – with a few stops along the way. “I always tell the story that I have been following my husband around my whole life and it never hurt me. We met while studying in Jena. He finished his studies earlier than I did and wanted to do his doctorate in Saarbrücken. So I did that too. After a few more stops, he was given a junior professorship in Berlin. So I started here as a data scientist at an online retailer and learned a lot about AI. My husband then accepted a professorship in Bonn and I started working there as a consultant. He then returned to Berlin. Well, you know the rest...”

Christina Kratsch is also enthusiastic about her new home as a scientist: “The size and diversity of Berlin’s ecosystem is fantastic – the multitude of research institutes and research-related companies, the entrepreneurial spirit.” Another major advantage of Brain City Berlin is the large number of young people who live here and want to make a difference. “What inspires and motivates me time and time again: My students are highly committed and enthusiastic when they can apply their knowledge from their studies to practical teaching modules. Be it in a company, a municipal institution or a startup. They want to get things moving. Our university benefits from this, as does Berlin.”

Christina Kratsch shares a personal insight with young scientists who would like to come to Berlin: “After my doctorate, I was sure that I didn’t want to stay in the academic system. This was mainly due to the intrinsic structural problems of an academic career,” she explains. In industry, she often worked in a very research-oriented, scientific and innovative way. And in careers that – as she says today – “offered much of what attracted me to academic research.” Ultimately, and to her own surprise, Christina Kratsch found her way back to science and sums it up: “My tip would be that there are other routes into academia than the traditional postdoc and junior professorship. Keep an open mind and follow your heart!” (vdo)