Bridging CulturesAdvancing Real-World Intelligence
Event language: English
Stronger together for a smarter real world
Project partners
1About the Forum
Physical AI describes intelligent systems that perceive, reason and act in the physical world — in production, laboratories, logistics and infrastructure. Its progress depends not on algorithms alone, but on the entire technology stack beneath them.
Every physically intelligent system rests on a chain of enabling technologies: semiconductors and edge processors that compute within tight energy and latency budgets; sensors and functional materials that translate physical phenomena into data; and actuators that turn decisions into precise, safe motion. Advances at each layer define what embodied intelligence can achieve in industrial practice.
Saxony and Korea hold complementary strengths along this stack. Saxony is one of Europe’s leading microelectronics locations, with a dense network of semiconductor manufacturing, applied research institutes and universities. Korea combines globally significant semiconductor capabilities with one of the highest industrial robot densities in the world. The forum brings researchers, engineers and industry stakeholders from both regions together to examine where these strengths meet — and how cooperation can move results from the laboratory into deployment.
How do advances in semiconductors, intelligent sensing, edge computing, materials, actuators and embodied intelligence enable the next generation of physically intelligent systems?
2Scientific Focus
Three connected themes trace the industrial stack of Physical AI. Each layer builds on the one beneath it — compute enables perception and control, the sensorimotor interface connects intelligence to the physical world, and integration turns capability into dependable industrial practice.
Semiconductor foundations
Embodied systems must perceive and decide in real time, often on the device itself. This theme addresses the hardware that makes this possible: energy-efficient processors and AI accelerators, edge computing architectures, advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration — and the trade-offs between latency, power and robustness.
Where data meets the physical world
Intelligence in the physical world begins and ends at the boundary between system and environment. This theme examines intelligent sensing, multimodal perception, tactile and force feedback, functional materials and actuator technologies — and how the tight coupling of sensing and actuation closes the loop between perception and action.
From prototype to production
The third layer concerns integrated systems that operate reliably in real environments: robot learning and control, human–robot collaboration, safety and validation, and the engineering required to deploy physically intelligent systems in manufacturing, semiconductor fabrication, logistics and beyond.
Provisional schedule · Times in CEST
Day 1
Optional visits to selected Fraunhofer laboratories and test environments.
Host welcome on the occasion, aims and bilateral ambition of the forum.
Physical AI as a future field for industry and research, and Saxony’s interest in deeper cooperation with Korea.
Korea’s industrial priorities, technological strengths and fields for international cooperation.
The strategic importance of Physical AI for Saxony as a business location.
Inference architectures for robotic foundation models, neuromorphic and analogue in-memory computing, heterogeneous integration and advanced packaging, software stacks and compiler ecosystems.
Bilateral networking at senior level, with short dinner remarks from both sides.
Day 2
The European framework for research, technology transfer and industrial cooperation.
Components and enabling technologies along the value chain: sensing for demanding manipulation, event-based vision, power electronics for high-density actuation, energy and battery technology for autonomous operation.
Sim-to-real and high-performance physics simulation, the Tactile Internet and teleoperation as a bridge to autonomy, and industrial applications ready for 2027.
Public R&D funding and incentives for cooperation.
Around nine companies present in eight-minute pitches. An open call for participation will follow.
Open format with coffee, snacks and company stands.
Closing statements from the Korean and Saxon sides.
The schedule is provisional and may change. Speakers and contributing organisations will be announced here once confirmed.
5Korea–Saxony Cooperation
No single region masters every layer of the Physical AI stack. Progress depends on partners who combine complementary capabilities — in materials and devices, in manufacturing, and in system integration.
The forum offers a structured setting for Korean and Saxon research institutions, companies and innovation stakeholders to identify shared questions and explore how cooperation could take shape. Specific formats will be developed together with participants.
Shared research questions across materials, devices, systems and AI, and exchange between institutes and universities.
Matching complementary competencies in semiconductors, sensing, actuation and automation.
Dialogue between companies, suppliers and research partners on concrete application needs.
Exploring routes from research results towards pilot projects, technology transfer and commercialisation.
6Express Interest
Researchers, engineers, companies and innovation stakeholders from Korea and Saxony are invited to register their interest in the forum.
Share your interest
Tell us who you are and which themes are most relevant to your work.
Receive updates
The organising partners will share programme updates as they are confirmed.
Registration
Formal registration details will be announced separately.
