Students from UM FERI, under the mentorship of Maja Pušnik and Boštjan Šumak, participated in the international Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) “GenAI Meets Reality”, hosted by the Fachhochschule Dortmund – University of Applied Sciences and Arts (https://www.fh-dortmund.de/index.php).
During the programme, students collaborated in diverse international teams with peers from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Romania, and India to address real-world challenges provided by the energy company DEW21 (https://www.dew21.de/). Their work focused on developing prototypes based on Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), exploring how local large language models (LLMs) can support companies in accessing and utilizing information more efficiently.
In the final phase, teams engaged in structured peer testing, evaluating each other’s solutions and refining their approaches based on feedback. Throughout the programme, students gained valuable hands-on experience in generative AI while also strengthening their skills in international collaboration, innovation, and problem-solving.
The programme successfully concluded with final presentations from eight international teams. Representatives from DEW21 expressed a high level of satisfaction with the developed solutions and the overall outcomes.
We are proud of our students for contributing to cutting-edge, industry-relevant solutions and for their active participation in an international environment.
