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Summer School

Edge Intelligence Unleashed: Mastering Embedded AI for Industry Advancement

15 sep. 2025 - 17 sep. 2025
During this exclusive summer school, we will examine in detail how machine and deep learning can be applied at the device level. Which components and frameworks are needed for edge processing? Both hardware and software will be covered, as well as techniques for optimising network architectures. In addition, there is plenty of room to experiment under the guidance of experts and to bridge the gap to your own business case.
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Praktische info:

15 sep. 2025 - 17 sep. 2025
18 uur
KU Leuven Campus De Nayer (Jan de Nayerlaan 5, 2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver)
Engels
Doelgroep: professionals with ML basics aiming to apply AI to embedded systems

Inschrijven?

  • Inschrijvingen: tot 08 sep. 2025
  • Voorwaarden: C++, Python, Linux & CNN knowledge required
  • Prijs: € 1200
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georganiseerd door:

Artificial intelligence is gradually becoming an integral part of production chains and business processes. In recent years, more and more AI tasks are being performed at the device level rather than on powerful cloud servers. Embedded AI offers numerous benefits and can be used for a multitude of tasks (such as process automation, improving customer service, advanced analytics, etc.), resulting in an exponential growth in the number of use cases.

During this exclusive summer school, we will examine in detail how machine and deep learning can be applied at the device level. Which components and frameworks are needed for edge processing? Both hardware and software will be covered, as well as techniques for optimising network architectures. In addition, there is plenty of room to experiment under the guidance of experts and to bridge the gap to your own business case. After the three-day programme, you will have a solid theoretical foundation regarding embedded AI, supplemented with practical tools to use in your own work context through the hands-on approach of the training.

Programme

15, 16, and 17 September 2025

Day programme:

  • 08.30-09.00 Welcome coffee
  • 09.00-12.30 Morning session
  • 12.30-13.00 Lunch
  • 13.00-16.30 Afternoon session
  • 16.30-17.30 Closing reception (only on Wednesday 17 September)

Target audience

The target audience for this training is professionals and experts interested in applying machine learning and deep learning to embedded systems in their respective industries. This may include hardware and software engineers, data scientists, machine learning engineers, embedded system designers, functional analysts, R&D managers and researchers working in fields such as computer vision, natural language processing, robotics, and IoT. The training is designed for individuals who already have a basic understanding of machine learning and deep learning and are looking to expand their knowledge and skills in applying these techniques to embedded systems.

Basic notions of data structures and algorithms, signal processing, convolutional neural networks and languages C++, Python & Linux (command line instructions) are needed to follow the programme adequately.

15 September 2025

Session 1: Introduction

Lecturer: Prof. Mathias Verbeke

Setting the context for the rest of the summer school:

  • Introduction to machine learning & deep learning
  • Embedded machine learning
  • Use cases and company pitches

Session 2: Workshop “Edge Impulse”

Lecturer: Dr. Jonas Lannoo

In this workshop, we use “Edge Impulse”, the online edge AI platform: a low-code environment to develop, train and deploy AI models on edge devices. It is widely applicable to quickly train a neural network and place the result on a microcontroller or any other edge device. With a simple but intuitive example, we discover the broad possibilities of this powerful software tool and create our first functional edge-deployed AI model.

16 September 2025

Session 3 and 4: TinyML (running ML models on microcontrollers)

Lecturers: Prof. Toon Goedemé & Prof. Peter Karsmakers

Theory: TinyML design flow for inference:

  • Model compression: hardware-friendly model architectures, quantisation, pruning, knowledge distillation
  • Model optimisation for edge hardware
  • Model deployment

Workshop: Compress and optimise a computer vision application for deployment on a microcontroller. Design validation using an ESP-EYE microcontroller.

17 September 2025

Session 5: Workshop FPGA

Lecturer: Wouter Hellemans

In this session, we will establish the landscape of ML on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and investigate how CNNs can be accelerated on FPGAs for high-throughput applications. Specifically, we will explore a network security case by developing a CNN-based intrusion detection system. During the session, we will make use of the open-source libraries Brevitas and FINN to quantise our model and convert it to specialised hardware.

Session 6: Distributed AI

Lecturer: Prof. dr. Hans Hallez

Focus on distributed working with artificial intelligence:

  • How can AI algorithms be scaled and distributed over a network of systems?
  • Deep dive into concepts like Edge Computing, Big Data, and Machine Learning

There will be ample time to wrap up the summer school with lessons learned and a closing drink.

Lesgevers / sprekers

Mathias Verbeke

Mathias Verbeke is als professor Artificiële Intelligentie verbonden aan de Faculteit Industriële Ingenieurswetenschappen van KU Leuven. Op de campus in Brugge maakt hij deel uit van de Mechatronics Group (M-Group), een interdisciplinaire onderzoeksgroep die expertise verzamelt op vlak van intelligente, betrouwbare en geconnecteerde mechatronische systemen. Hij focust er op de uitdagingen die gepaard gaan met de industriële toepassing van artificiële intelligentie. Mathias is verder ook verbonden aan Flanders Make, het strategisch onderzoekscentrum voor de maakindustrie, en Leuven.AI, het KU Leuven Instituut voor Artificiële Intelligentie.

Jonas Lannoo

PhD, Innovation Manager Mechatronics at University College VIVES, Senior Researcher in research group IoT, Mechatronics and Robotics, TinyML Teacher and Researcher, Bruges.

Toon Goedemé

Toon Goedemé studied electrical engineering at KU Leuven. He received the Ph.D. degree in vision-based topological navigation from KU Leuven, in December 2006, under the guidance of Prof. L. Van Gool and T. Tuytelaars. Afterwards, he started teaching at the Technical University De Nayer, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, where he founded his research group Embedded and Artificially Intelligent Vision Engineering (EAVISE), in 2008. Nowadays, his group is integrated in the KU Leuven and consists of three professors (Joost Vennekens, Patrick Vandewalle, and himself), four postdocs and about 20 researchers, playing a vital role in the transfer of computer vision and AI know-how from academic research towards the industry. Since 2014, he has been an Associate Professor with KU Leuven. He is the (co)author of more than 190 international publications and was a project leader of more than 75 industrially co-founded research projects. Together with his team, he won several awards, such as the Best Paper Award at Embedded Vision Workshop CVPR 2015, the Best Demo Award at BNAIC 2015, the Best Paper Award at CGVCVIP 2016, the Willy Asselman Award for research achievements in 2016, and the Best Paper Award at Embedded Vision Workshop ECCV 2020. He is also an Associate Editor of the IET Computer Vision journal and the MDPI Journal of Imaging.

Peter Karsmakers

Dr. Peter Karsmakers behaalde het M.Sc. diploma in artificiële intelligentie in 2004 en het PhD diploma aan het departement Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven, in 2010. Van 2010 tot 2013 was hij postdoctoraal onderzoeker in het MOBILAB-onderzoeksteam van Thomas More. Van 2013 tot 2018 werkte hij als postdoctoraal onderzoeker aan de KU Leuven waar hij het ADVISE onderzoeksteam mee oprichtte. Momenteel is hij een Associate Professor binnen het departement Computerwetenschappen in de afdeling DTAI aan de KU Leuven en is hij lid van het Leuven.AI instituut. Sinds 2022 is hij PI van Flanders Make@KU Leuven. Zijn onderzoeksinteresses omvatten het ontwerpen van machine learning algorithm die rekening houden met toepassingsspecifieke beperkingen. Deze kunnen bijvoorbeeld betrekking hebben op het computerplatform waarop het machine learning algorithm zal worden ingezet, aan de behoefte van fysieke consistentie tussen modelvariabelen, aan het gebrek aan data annotatie of aan andere toepassingsgerelateerde specificaties. Hij werkte aan diverse projecten, meestal in samenwerking met industriële partners, waarbij zowel mensen als machines worden bewaakt met behulp van sensoren zoals microfoons, versnellingsmeters en radars.

Wouter Hellemans

onderzoeker bij COSIC (KU Leuven)

Hans Hallez

Hans Hallez is a lecturer (Docent) of physics and informatics to 1st year (freshmen) academic bachelor Industrial Engineering students. This is within the faculty of Industrial Engineering (FIIW) of the KU Leuven (TechnologyCampus Oostende). In the final master year, he also teaches "optoelectronic communication" to electronic engineering students.

His research interests are within electronic implementation for medical and industrial applications. More specifically his interest lies in the implementation of signal-processing algorithms within programmable wireless sensor networks. He is also interested in new sensors and measurement techniques.

Hallez is proficient in conducting research concerning electronics, physics and ICT with medical applications. From the more fundamental research on EEG and ECG signal processing at the UGent, he's gone to research on a demand-driven and practical basis at KU Leuven. There he is responsible for teaching and conducting research.

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