IAI

On 18.09.204 in Berlin, the Swiss Embassy hosted a commemorative event on the 70th anniversary of CERN on the topic of “Open Science and Biodiversity Research”. Ambassador Livia Leu opened the event and praised CERN for its groundbreaking work and role in global cooperation between scientists. Professor Rolf-Dieter Heuer, former CERN Director-General, emphasised CERN's model for international cooperation and its contributions to the open science movement.

One of the highlights of the event was a presentation by Professor Rudolf Meier from the Museum für Naturkunde (MfN) in Berlin, who introduced cutting-edge biodiversity research, developed at the Institute for Automation and Applied Informatics (IAI) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). His talk also demonstrated the use of Zenodo, CERN’s open data repository, in storing and sharing biodiversity research data.

The presentations were followed by a vivid discussion between speakers and the audience, engaging participants from various sectors, including academia, policy-making, and science communication. The evening continued with live demonstrations of the automated microscopes for biodiversity research with the active support of doctoral candidates from KIT and MfN, offering the audience a first-hand look at how technology can revolutionize the study of insect discovery and population monitoring.

Project description: DiversityScanner – Sorting robot for biodiversity research