Joint Advanced Student School 2026: International student teams develop AI solutions for the smart city of the future
TUM Global, News |
Under the theme "Applying AI to Smart City Infrastructure," JASS 2026 brought together students from a range of disciplines at TUM and Imperial College London. Under the academic leadership of Prof. Bernd Brügge from the TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology (CIT), participants explored how large language models and other generative AI technologies can support the development of complex urban systems.
As part of the project, the students worked on real-world challenges provided by the Leptos Group, a Cyprus-based real estate company. The company's planned Neapolis Smart EcoCity served as a practical use case for developing and testing the students' concepts.
A key focus of the project was understanding how AI can support collaboration in interdisciplinary teams. Participants investigated whether AI tools can help teams learn new topics more quickly, integrate different technologies more efficiently, and turn innovative ideas into initial prototypes faster.
Concepts for the city of tomorrow
During the project week, 30 students worked in interdisciplinary and international teams to develop innovative solutions for key challenges in urban infrastructure. The project was conducted in a hybrid format, with TUM students working on site in Cyprus and participants from Imperial College London contributing both in person and remotely.
The concepts included intelligent management systems with real-time monitoring using drones and autonomous maintenance supported by environmental sensor data.
To showcase the project outcomes, Prof. Brügge created an AI-generated video that was subsequently presented to the Leptos Group. The video illustrates how the technologies developed during the project could interact within a future smart city environment.
Positive response and outlook for 2027
The concepts developed by the students were met with strong interest from the project partner.
Another edition of the Joint Advanced Student School is already planned for 2027 and is expected to involve additional partners. This will create new opportunities for international collaboration at the intersection of artificial intelligence, sustainable urban development, and technological innovation.