Knowledge4Retail - Künstliche Intelligenz für den Handel

The "Knowledge4Retail" project is a winning project of the "Künstliche Intelligenz als Treiber für volkswirtschaftlich relevante Ökosysteme" programme funded by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz (BMWK).

The project is motivated by the fact that little data is available on the movement of products or the customer interaction with a product in a store. However, the availability of such data would enable new services, e.g., the optimization of store layouts, the support of store employees, and an augmented shopping experience for customers.

Thus, the goal of the Knowledge4Retail project is the design and implementation of a data platform providing standardized data formats, interfaces, and solutions as a basis for AI-supported services. The platform is based on semantic digital twins - digital models of real shops that combine different data of a retail outlet. The project will develop a data format for the digital representation of the structure and processes of retail stores. The innovative aspect of this project is that the data is not only collected but also linked semantically. For example, the digital twin can link data from a store's ERP system, sensors in the store, the digital product catalogue, but also geodata or weather data.

The Knowledge4Retail project additionally designs and implements four prototypical applications based on the developed data model. These prototypes comprise intelligent intralogistics, strategic retail marketing for the establishment of customer-specific branches, service robotics for the support of store employees, and the Internet of Things (IoT) connection of an intelligent refrigerator.