Under the theme “Empowering Europe: Technological Leadership for a Resilient Future,” the Technology Talks Austria took place at the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna on September 10 and 11, 2026. The conference, organized by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology brought together over 1,000 experts, researchers, and representatives from politics and business to discuss Europe’s technological leadership.

The program also included a workshop hosted by AI Factory Austria AI:AT. Titled “Turning AI Potential into Impact: Services from AI Factory Austria AI:AT,” the workshop, held on September 10 at Arena 21, focused on how to turn an idea into a viable AI application. The workshop combined a concise overview of AI:AT with three discussions based on real-world experience. Julia Eisner, AI Expert & Scientific Collaboration Lead at AI:AT, led the afternoon session.

To kick things off, Karl Kugler and Markus Stöhr, co-leads of AI Factory Austria, introduced the AI:AT services . Guests from a wide variety of industries then demonstrated exactly what this support entails.

Media AI Based on Verified Data

It all started with the APA – Austria Press Agency. Verena Krawarik discussed AustroBERT. The APA developed the language model as part of the FFG project FAIRmedia and trained it exclusively using its own news agency reports. The training runs required sufficient computing power: AI:AT facilitated access to European high-performance computers and the onboarding process, enabling the proof of concept to quickly evolve into a usable model.

From Synthetic Data to Application

Felix Geremus (Another Earth) described a collaboration that came about through AI:AT. refinq already had a product for predicting floods. It was further developed using synthetic Earth observation data from Another Earth and targeted fine-tuning. AI:AT brought the two companies together, supported the technical work, and paved the way for potential application partners.

Thinking About Infrastructure and Applications Together

In the final session, Michael Steindl (A1 Telekom Austria) explained the role that national, professionally operated computing power plays for AI applications in Austria. He was followed by Ruben Hetfleisch (Klartext AI & AI Austria) and René Mähr (Synfia Labs)took the stage. Klartext AI is working on making information accessible to everyone. Synfia Labs makes conversations with large numbers of people analyzable, thereby providing organizations with a better basis for decision-making. Together, the three discussed what it takes for such applications to scale professionally.

These three examples made it clear: AI’s impact does not arise in isolation. It requires a clear research question, appropriate data and technology, and, above all, the right partners at the table. This is exactly where AI:AT comes in—as a starting point that brings together infrastructure, expertise, and the ecosystem.

A big thank you to all speakers and guests for the open and insightful exchange!