Founded in 1992, we are a fast-growing department undertaking internationally respected research in the areas of computer science, human-machine interaction, artificial intelligence and applied mathematics. Much of our research takes place at the interfaces of these disciplines. We maintain a large network of industry partners and provide education through one bachelor's programme and two master's programmes, all of which are nationally ranked #1 in their cohort according to the most recent education rankings. Situated in the heart of Europe and within 30 kilometers from the German and Belgian borders, Maastricht and its 120,000 inhabitants have a strong international character. It is a safe, vibrant city with a history spanning more than 2,000 years. The city's rich past is reflected everywhere in the streets: the ratio of monuments-to-inhabitants is roughly 1:73.

We have nearly 30 years' experience in research and teaching. Our efforts focus on four complimentary fields: Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. The department's contributions to areas such as multi-agent systems, (medical) signal and image processing, game theory and AI search techniques are internationally recognized. DKE maintains a large and worldwide network of public and private collaborators, and our staff is firmly rooted in multiple national and international research networks. Next to our research, we take pride in our education.

As part of the Guardian's Automating Poverty series, Robert Booth looked at how and why the Department for Work and Pensions in the UK is increasing investment in testing artificial intelligence to assess benefits claims. He talks to Jordan Erica Webber about his findings. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/chipspod

We are making such material available non-commercially in an effort to educate and advance research in machine learning, generative music, music information retrieval, computational creativity, etc.

There is an unreasonable amount of information that can be extracted from what people publicly say on the internet. At Heuritech we use this information to better understand what people want, which products they like and why. This post explains from a scientific point of view what is Knowledge extraction and details a few recent methods on how to do it. Highly structured databases make it easy to reason with and can be used for inference. For example in WikiData or YAGO, entities are isolated and linked together with relations.

Texas A&M is playing a leading role in expanding the capabilities of automated vehicles and investigating how they can be safely used on rural roads. The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) was recently awarded $7 million in federal grant funding from the Department of Transportation (DOT). In partnership with researchers from George Washington University and the University of California-Davis, A&M professors will be studying the specifics of how automated vehicles work on rural roadways -- something Alireza Talebpour, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said not much is currently known about. "Autonomous vehicle testing has pretty much only been done in urban centers," Talebpour said. "The technology is useless if it only works in big cities – the majority of roads in the United States are rural. We want to enable autonomous driving for people who don't live in big cities."

Cologne – LANXESS is broadening its use of artificial intelligence (AI) in product development. The specialty chemicals company has launched a project aimed at expanding its range of prepolymers. The goal is to offer customers tailor-made polyurethane systems with even shorter lead times, including for entirely new applications with different requirements. The Urethane Systems business unit is using the potential of AI and has brought materials AI company Citrine Informatics on board as a project partner. LANXESS data specialists and process experts used the Citrine Platform for artificial intelligence to add further data points to the company's formulation database.

The Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) Innovation Program is testing ways to increase public safety by sharing data that smart cities collect. The project, called the Smart City Interoperability Reference Architecture (SCIRA), is part of a long-running partnership with the Homeland Security Department's Science and Technology Directorate. The program aims to develop standards and practices to improve first responders' awareness and communication by studying how shared data can drive decisions and make disaster response more effective. "That really rests on being able to build a framework of systems that work together," Innovation Program Director Josh Lieberman said. The plan is to bring together data from sensors and other sources along with insights from people.

If you are into high tech and learning about the latest and greatest… then the IBM Think event is for you! ContractPodAi was at the London conference as an IBM Watson AI (artificial intelligence) partner to join the conversation. Without a doubt, the buzz was energizing. This year's Think conference broadly included the hottest topics in tech: First, IBM Watson AI is the world's best known, and trusted artificial intelligence platform. As such, there were plenty of topics about the new era technology.

Artificial intelligence sounds like it could be hiring's Holy Grail: A completely automated system that maximizes application-sorting efficiency, minimizes HR labor and reduces the chance that bias could taint the hiring process. Despite its great potential, AI carries liability risks that HR pros must understand. Artificial intelligence software relies on computerized algorithms to sort data and analyze it quickly, without human input. Many HR departments now use AI programs to sort through résumés and applications to identify key words and phrases. Applications that meet an employer's screening criteria are then forwarded to HR for further review.