NCCR Automation Annual Retreat

Hotel Meilenstein in Langenthal, between Solothurn and Olten.

Full address is: Lotzwilstrasse 66, 4900 Langenthal.

Nearest train station: Langenthal (20-min walk from the hotel)

Nearest bus stations: Langenthal Dennli or Langenthal Schwimmbad

Monday 

14:30 - 16:30: "Introduction to Quantum Computing, Quantum Technology at ETHZ Zurich and a view on the Swiss Quantum landscape" by Philipp Kammerland

Tuesday

09:15 - 10:00 "Titta" Nicola Carlon Zambon: Levitodynamics - quantum control at the nanoscale
Optically levitated objects are pristine, nearly dissipation-free oscillators, making them an ideal probe system for sensing applications and for investigating fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics. In this talk, I will briefly review the physics of optical levitation and discuss the strategies we adopt to measure and control mechanical degrees of freedom at the quantum level. References: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03617-w and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03602-3

10:00 - 10:30 Discussion and Question Session part I

10:30 - 10:45 Break 

10:45 - 11:30 Kevin Reuer: Realizing a deep reinforcement learning agent for real-time quantum feedback

Superconducting qubits are a prime candidate technology for realizing scalable quantum computers. However, they are notoriously difficult to control. In this talk I will give a quick introduction to superconducting circuits and explain how model-free reinforcement learning promises to discover efficient feedback strategies from scratch without relying on a description of the quantum system. References: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42901-3

11:30 - 12:00 Discussion and Question Session part II

Abstract: The correlation between technologies and ethics is often understood in the following way: Technological progress is moving forward and is provoking a normative reaction. In the keynote, this concept will be critically examined, and an “interactionist model” will be introduced. Based on this model framing technologies and ethics as interacting with each other, the question arises if some technologies (e.g., certain AI systems) can be thought of as “moral technologies”. This question will be addressed by identifying which parts of the sphere of ethics can be mastered by technologies and which not. In conclusion, concrete effects of these considerations are outlined.

Biography: Since 2017 Full Professor of Theological Ethics and Director of the Institute of Social Ethics ISE at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Lucerne, since 2014 Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein (South Africa), and since 2023 Visiting Professor at the Chair for Neuroinformatics and Neural Systems at ETH Zurich as well at the ETH AI Center – one of the world's largest hubs for research in the field of so-called "Artificial Intelligence". Prior, he was 2015-2017 Visiting Fellow at Yale University (USA).

Born 1977 in Vienna (A). Married and father of two daughters. Studies of Theology and Judaism in Lucerne, in Rome (Gregoriana), and Jerusalem (2001: MA at the University of Lucerne) and studies of Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Political Science at the University of Zurich (2003: MA at the University of Zurich). 2000-2008: Member of the Swiss Study Foundation. 2002: Intensive Course in Entrepreneurship at the Babson College (Wellesley, MA) thanks to the NETS (New Enterpreneurship)-Award of Gebert Ruef Foundation. 2004-2008: PhD at the University of Zurich with a research-project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). September 2005-August 2006: Research Stay at the University of Chicago Divinity School (USA) with a scholarship of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Swiss Study Foundation, and the Otto-Herz-Study-Foundation. 2008: PhD at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Zurich. 2012: Habilitation in Theological Ethics with focus on Social Ethics at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Fribourg and appointment as Private Lecturer. 2013-2017 Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Lund University (Sweden). 2013 Visiting Scholar at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia). 2013-2014 Guest-Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). 2015-2019 Guest-Lecturer at the Leuphana University Lueneburg (Germany).

Since 2017 Founder and Director of the "Lucerne Summer University: Ethics in a Global Context LSUE" under the patronage of UNESCO, since 2018 Founder and Director of the "Lucerne Graduate School in Ethics LGSE" and since 2023 Founder and Study-Director of the Master Degree Program "Ethics" of the University of Lucerne.

Consultative expert in Ethics of national and international organizations and institutions (e.g., UN, UNESCO, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE], European Union [EU], Council of Europe, Companies and NGOs). Member of the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology ECNH and President of the "Ethics-Advisory Board Smart Lucerne" of the City of Lucerne. Member of the Ausschuss "Wirtschaftswissenschaften und Ethik" of the Verein fuer Sozialpolitik. Associate Editor of the Journal "AI Perspectives" and a member of the editorial board of "Asian Horizons". Reviewer, among others, of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), for the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), for the Irish Research Council (IRC), for the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, for the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), of the Business and Human Rights Journal, the Journal "AI and Ethics", of the NEJM AI, the Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik zfwu, the Zeitschrift für Praktische Philosophie (ZfPP), and De Ethica – A Journal of Philosophical, Theological, and Applied Ethics. Member of the Commission Justitia et Pax of the Swiss Bishop’s Conference and member of a working-group of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) on a standard on ethics in IT design (2017-2020). Member of the working-group Mobility 4.0 of the Federal Roads Office (FEDRO). Human Rights Adviser of the Non-Profit Organization "Musicians for Human Rights", Member of the Advisory-Board of the Non-Profit-Organizations "Water for Water" and "Play for Rights". Member of the Advisory-Board of the Think Tank for Decentralization "Dezentrum". Member of the Board of Trustees of Switzerland Foundation of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2020-2022). Corresponding Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forum Alpbach.

2003-2015 Co-Founder and Co-Director of the International Human Rights Forum Lucerne (IHRF). 2007-2015 Lecturer, Co-Founder, and Co-Director of the Centre of Human Rights Education (ZMRB) at the University of Teacher Education Lucerne. Since 2004 guest-lectures at universities in Switzerland and abroad (among others, Harvard University, Columbia University, …). 2011-2015 Chair ad interim at the Chur University of Theology and 2013-2015 Dean of Research at the Chur University of Theology. 2011-2015 Member of the Board of the Swiss Centre of Expertise in Human Rights. 2011-2017 Member of the Expert-Jury of the Swiss Ethics Award.

Peter G. Kirchschlaeger was guest in TV programs like, among others, BBC News, ZDF (national German TV), ORF (national Austrian TV), SRF (national Swiss TV), and RSI (TV of the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland), radio stations like, among others, Ö1 (national Austrian Radio), SRF 1, SRF 2, SRF 3 (national Swiss radio stations) as well as covered or interviewed by newspapers like, among others, the German Newspaper "Tagesspiegel", the Austrian Newspaper "Der Standard", the Austrian Newspaper "Die Presse", the Austrian Weekly Newspaper "Die Furche", the Swiss Newspaper "Tagesanzeiger" and the Swiss Newspaper "Neue Zürcher Zeitung".

Comfortable clothes, nothig special needed.