ELLIS at the AI for Good Global Summit: Showcasing European Excellence in AI Research
From July 8–11, 2025, the ELLIS Society participated in the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva—an annual event organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations (UN) leading agency for digital technologies, to explore how AI can advance sustainable development and address pressing global challenges. The summit brings together thought leaders from research, industry, policy, and civil society to showcase AI applications with positive social impact.
ELLIS was present with a dedicated booth, where multiple people from the Society, including the Communications Team, ELLIS Unit Jena Coordinator, Scientific Coordinator, and the PhD & Postdoc Program Coordinator engaged with hundreds of visitors throughout the four-day event. The booth offered information about the ELLIS network, its mission to advance European excellence in machine learning, and details about the ELLIS PhD & Postdoc Program.
Highlight Talks at the Summit
A key highlight of the ELLIS presence was the keynote by Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf, ELLIS Co-Founder and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. Speaking on the Centre Stage, his talk, “The future of AI-powered scientific breakthroughs,” explored the transformative role of causal AI in advancing science and benefiting society. He emphasized the importance of trustworthy and responsible AI to ensure that future innovations align with the public good.
Another major contribution came from Prof. Dr. Markus Reichstein, Co-Director of ELLIS Unit Jena, who delivered a presentation during the workshop “Human-centered AI for disaster management: Empowering communities through standards.” His talk, “AI for Early Warning of Complex Climate Risk – a science perspective,” focused on how AI can be leveraged for climate crisis mitigation, particularly through Earth observation and ecological modeling. Through real-world examples—from AI-powered flood forecasting to community-oriented tools—Prof. Reichstein illustrated how Human-Centered AI can support disaster preparedness and resilience.
ELLIS’s participation at AI for Good 2025 reinforced its commitment to collaborative, ethical, and scientifically grounded AI research and its role in the global AI landscape. ELLIS continues to push the frontiers of machine learning while ensuring that its applications contribute to a more sustainable and resilient world.
