What do my data say about me?

Photo: Pixabay.com/Sammy Williams

Data-driven technologies such as artificial intelligence or chatbots are changing the business world. Stefan Thalmann and his team investigate these new technologies.

Today, industry espionage often takes place when exchanged production data are analyzed by competitors. Many companies aren’t aware of the the knowledge that’s actually contained in the data sets they automatically share with suppliers and customers. Stefan Thalmann develops strategies that support the use of technical, organisational and legal measures for the protection of critical knowledge. This kind of concept is important, because the fear of loosing critical knowledge can be a big hurdle for the adoption of digital technologies and new business models.

WHAT IS YOUR RESEARCH GOAL? We want to investigate opportunities and challenges of new technologies for our society. For that reason, we take a design-oriented approach and develop prototypes and security concepts. We also gain theoretical knowledge by evaluating these prototypes.

WHICH CHALLENGES ARE YOU FACING? For this type of research, we often need access to company data that they don’t like to release. We need to address certain concerns before we can even begin our work.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN? While data-driven technologies have an enormous potential, people should also be aware of the risks they pose. Furthermore, students should achieve a basic level of technical competence, so they can design data-driven solutions for business applications and support their implementation. There’s currently a high demand for this knowledge on the job market.

WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO WORK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRAZ? We consider it really important to examine the interaction between the different disciplines. Good networks are found here, which allow us to investigate the topic of digitalisation from many perspectives. The university also has a good reputation with companies, which is very important for my work.

Stefan Thalmann is head of the Business Analytics and Data Science Center and member of the core research area "Smart Regulation". Researchers from different disciplines analyse the chances and challenges connected with technical innovations.

Dagmar Eklaude

Related news

Jurassic Sounds: Biologist reconstructs insect songs from 165 million years ago

It was apparently not just the roars of the dinosaurs that made up the soundscape of the animal world during the Jurassic period. Crickets and grasshoppers communicated through a variety of songs and high-pitched sounds, as Thorin Jonsson from the Institute of Biology at the University of Graz discovered together with colleagues from the universities of Lincoln, Bristol (UK), Beijing (China) and Tempe (USA). The findings on what are so far the oldest traces of sound on Earth have just been published in the journal PNAS.

EU funding boosts international exchange between universities

The University of Graz is further expanding its international study opportunities through the European university alliance Arqus and is taking the lead in two key projects. In future, students will benefit from even more joint degree programmes and from simplified recognition of academic achievements through the Joint European Degree Label.

Rescue and risks: Researchers have surveyed public perceptions of AI

The use of artificial intelligence has had to be made transparent since 2 August 2026. The EU’s AI Act, which has been in force since then, also sets out how risky an application is and which security measures apply as a result. However, the assessment of risks by the legislation differs in some cases significantly from the perceptions of the Austrian public. This is the finding of a representative study carried out by data scientist Stefan Thalmann from the University of Graz and his team.

The Healing Sea: Researchers discover new approaches to treating chronic inflammation in sponges

Chronic inflammation plays a key role in many diseases, ranging from metabolic disorders and cardiovascular diseases to tissue damage following injuries or infections. “Normally, the body is able to resolve inflammation on its own. If this process becomes unbalanced, immune cells remain permanently active and continue to drive negative changes in the tissue,” explains Andreas Koeberle, a pharmacist at the University of Graz.